General Kanine
by Oceanera12
Summary: The 212th had a lot of excitement in the Clone Wars. Dealing with new recruits, stubborn medics, battles involving the 501st (which always went wrong), and a General who attracted more trouble than thought possible. Like the one time, he somehow got himself turned into... into a dog? Companion story to Commander Pillow. Recommend reading it before, but not required. NON-SLASH
1. Shinies and Bacta

**I promised I'd upload this, didn't I? **

**For anyone who hasn't read "Commander Pillow": Some of this might get confusing so to try and keep you in the loop, Commander Cody got his name, which means pillow, when a Jedi used him as a pillow awhile back. This chapter is an "intro" of sorts for the Shinies introduced throughout the story. Also, it's just pure insanity, isn't that right Padawan?**

_**ArtyandTintinFan here! Era and I have enjoyed writing this crazy story. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!**_

**Anyone who has read Commander Pillow and really wanted to see a... specific event unfold: you're welcome. So let's get to it!**

* * *

"Alright, shinies! Get in line!" Cody shouted, despite the fact all eleven new recruits were already standing at perfect attention in the forest clearing. The planet the 212th was currently on was a little hot, but the commander didn't seem to notice as he paced up and down the new line.

Waxer grinned at Boil under his helmet. Another Commander Cody 'no toleration' speech was underway, and he couldn't help but laugh at how intimidated the newbies looked. The two had just finished setting up camp with all the other clones and had decided to come to watch the show.

Cody opened his mouth to continue when a sudden, "Excuse me!" interrupted him.

A soldier on the end stepped forward and glared at the commander. His red hair was cut military fashion and he had a stubborn look on his face- more stubborn than the average clone.

Cody raised an eyebrow, "What is it, soldier?"

"I'm no shiny!"

"Then what are you?" The commander asked in an exasperated tone.

The clone didn't seem to like that. He marched forward and glared at the commander in such a defiant way that Cody actually stepped back in shock. "I'm the medic transfer from the 616th Attack Battalion that you requested two weeks ago and I've been fighting in this War way longer than these kriffing shinies."

Cody frowned and vaguely remembered a request for a new medic due to a small skirmish about a month ago where they had lost their head medic. He had been a good soldier and patient enough to deal with a stubborn General. It had been a sorrowful loss and Cody had been reluctant to request another medic. Perhaps it had been a mistake to request a medic who "needed to be able to attend a stubborn Jedi who refused to be treated until he was almost dead". This new brother seemed a bit… different than the others.

And on closer inspection, Cody realized the clone was indeed who he said he was, due to the first aid kit on his back and dozens upon dozens of marks on his armor. They appeared to be letters, but Cody couldn't find a single sensical word among the scratches. Force, the letters did not even match up in a line, scattered across the clone's chest plate and forearms. The paint was red and gray, the colors of the 616th. Definitely not a shiny.

"I apologize if I offended you. You came with the new cadets so I just assumed-"

The medic cut him off, "You just assumed everyone on board was a shiny? Better check your roster, _Commander._" There was not even an attempt to hide the sarcasm. Cody frowned and opened his mouth to reprimand the new clone but was once again cut off.

"Name's Bacta. What's yours?"

Cody blinked, too shocked to think. "Cody. _Commander_ Cody."

Bacta grinned. "So you're the famous pillow? I thought you'd be taller."

"We're clones," Cody managed to reply, his confusion growing.

"So we are, so we are…" Bacta's eyes went over to the snickering Waxer, "And what do you think is so funny?"

Waxer straightened up immediately. "Nothing."

"No, something amuses you. What is it?" Bacta ignored the flabbergasted Commander and marched over to the two clones. "Come out with it."

Waxer smiled. "I've never seen a clone speak to a commander like that."

"What's your name?"

"Waxer."

"Well, Waxer. You just volunteered to be my first victim. Medical check-up in the tent in one hour. Don't be late." Without another word the new medic marched off, leaving several confused and a little-frightened clones behind.

Boil was the first to speak. "I think the General may have just received his undoing."

"... Alright Cadets, let me start with the following. I will not tolerate laziness or slacking in your duties, no matter how boring it may seem." The lecture continued on with Cody stressing the subject of respect to titles given. Following orders, good orders will make you a good soldier, and following your Captains, Commanders, and Generals was the first and foremost rule in the army. Bacta's conversation with him may have thrown that fact out the window with these new clones and Cody wanted to make sure it remained in their heads.

When the lecture ended, Cody stepped out of his 'Commander mode' for a moment. "We're all brothers in this army. Which means we fight together, we work together, and in some cases, we die together. No one is alone in this army. We never leave a brother behind. Even as your Commander, I am still your brother. If anything is wrong, you can talk to me, Captain Wooley, or General Kenobi. Even as a Jedi, he is still one of us."

One clone raised a hand. "Sir. Um… where are the Captain and General?"

Cody gave a small smile. "They would have been here, but due to our most recent battle, they relieved two scouts for a shift. They'll meet you in about an hour in the mess hall. Now. Introduce yourselves."

Most of the shinies had names. Cody mentally noted each and any marks for identification (only two had them at the moment). It was a skill Obi-Wan had taught him- nothing was more important than knowing your men.

First up: Light Squad.

A young clone called Click seemed to be the man in charge, but he didn't look like the leading type. His hair was slightly messy and Cody had a feeling it would get worse as the war went on. Along with that, his hands never seemed to stop moving, twisting parts of his gun- and now that he looked at it, Click's blaster was actually missing parts (albeit nothing that would make the gun blow up). Cody located the missing parts hanging on Click's belt for no reason whatsoever.

"Click, why-"

The clone to Click's right interrupted before Cody even finished the question. "Click here prefers to build droid busting gizmos than use a blaster. Something about taking things apart without any damage being more 'useful'."

Click frowned and elbowed his brother in the ribs. "Sorry Commander, Trigger here never keeps his mouth shut. I like to tinker with broken droid parts. I've found it useful in the past."

"Kamino and war are very different, Click," Trigger grinned cheekily and patted the blaster in his hand. Cody didn't need to ask about his name. It was quite obvious why he'd gotten it.

Next to Trigger was Soft Shot, a technician trainee (or soft shell, as the Clones called them) that had been dragged into the Light Squad a long time back due to a miscount. He didn't seem to hold any grudge about it, in fact, he seemed to take great pride in it. He also seemed to always be keeping an eye on Trigger, probably making sure the clone didn't start firing his weapon for no reason.

Standing a few steps from the group were the remaining two members of the squad- Rift and Zee. The first one was very quiet, every movement softer than most clones, but he greeted the Commander in perfect Mando'a, continuing his introduction in the same language. Apparently, he really enjoyed languages. Cody tucked that information away- never knew when it could be useful. And Zee… well, he just seemed angry about something. His gaze was harder than most and he didn't say much other than his name and number.

A member of the other shiny squad (Checkered Squad) called out, "Don't mind Zee. He always looks like that." Cody looked at the only man with dyed hair (it was a dull red color). He grinned, leaning against one of his squadmates, "I'm Cliff- pilot wanna-be, but they found that out a little late so I'm on the ground most of the time. And this straight face-" he poked his brother, "Is Marshal- although we just call him Marsh. He's in charge."

Cody smiled slightly. Marsh was definitely a rule stickler, even if his name hadn't told him that. He was standing at stiff attention, glaring at his relaxed brother. "Cliff, would you please behave?"

"Eh, let him have his fun. Better than him jumping off the Kamian platforms because of a dare," another clone groaned. He nodded at Cody, "I'm Buzzer- medic trainee. The quiet one is Dodge. He doesn't talk unless he needs to so don't expect him to be chatty. Good at scouting."

Dodge was the only one who was bald but generally, shinies didn't mark themselves until further down the line. He gave a polite nod.

The last clone finally stepped forward. His hair was slightly longer than the others, but not by much. Cody couldn't help but think that the clone looked younger than anyone else here. It wasn't a mutation or the fact that he was a newbie. His eyes and face just seemed younger. Even his smile was almost childish.

"CT-5711." He gave a shy smile at the commander. "I'm a field communications officer trainee."

"No name."

"Not yet, sir."

"Well, that will be resolved shortly." Cody gave a reassuring pat on the back. "Alright, I'd like all of you to meet Boil and Waxer, our local troublemakers."

Waxer gave a cheeky wave while Boil protested. "I try and keep him under control! Why am I a troublemaker?"

Cody ignored him. "You'd do well to not follow in their footsteps. I do not tolerate troublemakers."

Cliff tapped his finger against his chin, "Define troublemaker."

Marsh elbowed him again.

Waxer piped up, "It's really not that bad. Just extra shifts and cleaning the mess hall." He winked at everyone. "It will be fun."

A few returned a smile, then all returned to attention.

Cody rolled his eyes. "Alright. You're dismissed-"

"Commander! Commander Cody! Cody!" Wooley came sprinting into the clearing, painting.

Cody whirled around, noting the frightened tone Wooley had yelled in. "Wooley? What's wrong?"

The Captain screeched to a halt in front of Cody, his hands on his knees trying to recover his breath. "I… I…"

"Kriff, Wooley, what is it?"

"I can't find General Kenobi."

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**DUN DUN DUUUUHHHH.**

**So this was sort of an introductory chapter to make sure people are still interested in reading this. If you are, follow or leave a review. It's going to be much shorter than Commander Pillow, around 20 chapters. We're not quite down with it yet, but before I stress about finishing it, I thought I'd check to see if there is interest.**

**Anyway, hope y'all have a wonderful day and May the Force Be With You!**


	2. Transformation

**I am pleasantly surprised how many people are actually interested in this... well, nonsense fic. Oh well. Here's to the next chapter!**

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**Transformation**

Obi-Wan felt funny. There wasn't really another way to describe it. His body felt as if it was in the wrong position or he had broken every bone inside of him and someone had glued them back together in the wrong way. His brain had this strange buzz and he was having difficulty concentrating on his thoughts. For no apparent reason, he felt the urge to run around shouting at the top of his lungs.

None of that made any sense because he was scouting. Or he had been scouting. Then he wasn't.

'_Okay, Obi-Wan focus. What happened?'_ He struggled to recall the incidents.

Wooley had volunteered to take an injured clone's shift on patrol and Obi-Wan had decided to go with him. He hadn't been able to sleep anyway, the most recent battle still in the front of his mind.

The two followed their route and watched for strange activity, with no major incidents. They saw the transport ship come down to land with the new recruits and (according to the roster) the new medic. Obi-Wan wasn't excited about that last one (at least when it came to his own injuries. Avoiding the med bay was a habit from his youth he'd never completely grown out of).

They had just been getting ready to go back when Obi-Wan felt something in the Force. It wasn't dangerous. It wasn't a warning. It was just a feeling. He had shrugged it off and started to follow Wooley-

-and that was when his memory went fuzzy.

He groaned and rolled over on the ground… or was it a blanket? Obi-Wan's eyes fluttered open and he looked around- before slamming them shut again.

Several new facts had entered the situation. One, he was still in the forest. Two, he was lying on his robe which had seemed to have grown exponentially. Three, Wooley was nowhere in sight. Finally, everything was black and white.

Did he go color blind? That didn't make any sense. He didn't remember any sort of explosion and his head wasn't hurting… okay so it was a little fuzzy, but that wasn't the same as a headache.

No matter. A medic or healer could look at his eyes and see if the situation was permanent. Color blindness wasn't the worst thing that could happen to him and Obi-Wan wasn't too concerned. Wooley was now the frontmost thing in his mind.

He opened his eyes and attempted to stand up- only to tumble forward in a somersault and land on his stomach. '_Ow…'_ He shook his head and the pain away looking down at his hands-

-only to stop and stare.

He had paws. Fluffy paws. Fluffy, furry, paws.

Okay so let's think about this: color blindness, paws, and the urge to run around and make a lot of noise…

Kriff.

Struggling, Obi-Wan managed to crawl over to a slow stream and look at his reflection.

He stared at himself for Force knew how long before laying on his stomach and resting his chin on his paws. '_Anakin is never going to let me live this down.'_

Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi had somehow been turned into a puppy. A very fluffy, very cute puppy. He was unable to see what color he was, but he had a suspicion that his eyes were still the same, and his fur was similarly colored to his tunic and boots, due to fur lines and shadowed areas.

'_Can I talk?'_ Obi-Wan opened his mouth to try and call out a greeting, but it came out as a very small and high bark. He heard a small whining noise and after a moment realized that was him, reacting to his disappointment. '_Pull yourself together. Let's figure this out.'_

First thing on the list: get out of the forest. Obi-Wan hadn't been concerned about the wildlife of the planet until now. What good was a puppy when going up against a large carnivorous creature. Should he go back to the 212th?

Probably not. No one would realize the puppy was Obi-Wan and would most likely try and get rid of the dog, due to the fact that pets were not allowed in the army. He needed to find someone who could identify him.

Obi-Wan groaned (well, whined) as he realized his only option. A few miles from his current position, the 501st was camped. Anakin would most likely be able to tell that the puppy was Obi-Wan. And if not Anakin, Ahsoka would figure it out. She did have more common sense than her master.

* * *

Ahsoka and Rex had been talking about needed supplies when a small ball of fur suddenly sprinted out of the forest, being chased by some ugly beast.

The fur ran behind Ahsoka and hid, shaking in fear.

Rex reacted instinctively as the beast charged at his commander, pulling out his pistols and firing off three shots. The beast fell to the ground, unmoving. "Are you alright, Commander Tano?"

The Togruta didn't respond, as she bent down and picked up the ball of fur. Cradling it in her arms, she looked up with a smile. "Why are you asking me? You should be asking this adorable puppy!"

She started to pet the little dog, cooing as Rex looked on with slight concern and confusion.

The padawan moved her hands over the puppy's ears and began scratching them. The dog went limp with pleasure. Rex frowned and muttered an inquisitive, "What…?" as he watched the puppy start to whine as the Togruta stopped petting him.

Ahsoka laughed at the clone captain's bewildered expression, keeping a tight grip on the still limp dog. "Awww, aren't you the cutest!" She said, bringing her nose down to rub it against the puppy's head. Ahsoka pulled short when she noticed the dog was _glaring _at her. She shook her head confused. Dogs did not glare at people.

But she couldn't shake the feeling and tilted her head at the small thing.

Rex took a step closer and frowned slightly, "... Um, does it look angry to you?"

"I… I think so. But dogs don't look angry… right?"

"May I have him?" Rex held out his hand and Ahsoka dutifully placed the now squirming dog in his arms. The puppy was a light tan color with brown paws on his back legs. His ears and upper face were a dull ginger color, sweeping slightly down the neck. A brown stripe ran around his waist, almost like a belt. "He certainly is… colorful."

"I think he's adorable." Ahsoka scooped the animal back out of Rex's hands and began to scratch him behind the ears. "Can we keep him?"

"Well, sir. There are regulations about pets in the army."

"We could train him! He could be an army dog!"

Rex smiled. "I don't think that's how it works, Commander."

The dog began to squirm and tried to get out of Ahsoka's arms. She frowned but put the dog down on the ground. "Alright, little fella. There ya go."

The puppy sat on his back legs, looking up at the two with an expression that both placed as, "_Are you kidding me?"_ He barked loudly, glaring at the two.

Ahsoka frowned and knelt down. "Think he's trying to tell us something?"

"I'm not an animal person, Commander, so I really wouldn't know."

'_Padawan Tano.'_

Ahsoka looked around a little confused. "Rex… did you just hear Master Kenobi?"

"Uh… no. Sir, are you feeling alright?"

'_Ahsoka! Is this even working? Ahsoka! It's me!'_

The Togruta slowly turned her eyes toward the dog. "Um…"

'_Ahsoka,'_ the puppy stared at her, '_Don't tell me you don't recognize your Grand-master.'_

"Ah!" she jumped back and stared in horror at the dog.

Rex drew his weapon and pointed it at the dog. "Commander, what's wrong?"

She pushed his blaster down. "Put that thing away before you shoot Master Kenobi!"

"Uh… General Kenobi isn't here."

The dog started to bark loudly and glared at Rex. He stared at the dog for a moment very confused.

Ahsoka pointed at the dog. "I don't know how and I don't know why, but that dog is Master Kenobi."

* * *

Anakin looked at the dog in his padawan's hands and wondered how she had talked Rex into this prank. "Ahsoka, my Master did not suddenly just turn into a puppy. For one, he's too cute!" He reached out to scratch the dog under the chin but quickly drew back as it tried to bite his finger.

Ahsoka groaned. "Master, I'm serious. It's a little hard to tell at first but after a little prodding with the Force, I can tell it's Obi-Wan."

"Not falling for it, Snips!" He turned back to the holo-map of the battlefield. "I just got a nervous call from Commander Cody saying that Obi-Wan is missing. Did you two plan this out together? I'll admit, it's a good prank but-"

The dog growled at Anakin before barking sharply. Anakin paused and looked at the dog, vaguely reminded of being scolded.

Ahsoka held the dog up in Anakin's face, "Master, look at his big eyes. It's Master Kenobi!"

… "I don't see it."

Rex facepalmed behind the padawan. Even he, _a clone,_ could identify a general when said general had four legs and furry ears. Then again, maybe the fact that he was a clone was the reason he could do just that.

Obi-Wan growled at his ex-Padawan, hoping the entire situation was just some crazy nightmare and he'd wake up any minute. He had no such luck.

Anakin rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through the hair. "Ahsoka now is not the time to play a prank using my old Master. You know how Cody feels about pranks, especially when concerning his General." He turned back to the holo-map, while Ahsoka looked helplessly at Rex.

Obi-Wan finally had had enough. He wriggled in Ahsoka's arms until he could hop down to the ground and glared up at his disinterested padawan.

He submerged himself in the Force again and called out to Anakin through their bond. _Anakin. _The younger Jedi shrugged off the attempt at communication.

Obi-Wan tried again, more forcefully this time. _**Anakin. **_This time the man frowned and mentally responded back while keeping his eyes on the map in front of him.

_Master? _

Obi-Wan nearly sighed in relief over the bond but caught himself. This was taking all of his concentration. _Yes. Now listen carefully… and don't even think of complaining or protesting, because I know that's what you're about to do, Anakin…_

_You know me too well, Master. _

_Yes, well, that comes with practically raising you. _The Jedi master dropped the banter when he remembered his purpose in initiating the 'conversation'.

_Anakin. Listen to your padawan. _Hopefully, that was straightforward enough...

_...Master?..._

Apparently not.

_Don't you 'Master?' me! Listen to what Ahsoka just told you. Feel out the situation with the Force. _

The transformed Jedi master watched as Anakin closed his eyes and prodded his signature with the Force. The blue eyes popped open and dropped down to the floor where Obi-Wan sat.

The knight's brows furrowed and he hesitantly asked, "Obi-Wan?..."

_Yes. _

Anakin reverted back to the mental conversation. _You're really a… puppy? _

_Yes! What part of 'yes' do you not understand? _

There was a beat of silence, then Anakin said out loud, "Ahsoka, I think you're right." The Togruta threw her arms up in the air. "Finally!"

"Well, excuse me for not believing my Master got turned into a tiny puppy! This isn't a usual thing to occur around here, regardless of the weird situations we seem to get into!"

"It's Master Kenobi. A lot of strange things happens to him."

Obi-Wan growled softly at the comment, but no one seemed to pay attention.

Anakin knelt down and picked up the squirming dog. "So… what do we do with him?"

'_The 'him' is a person. Anakin put me down!'_ Unfortunately, Obi-Wan's new puppy brain wasn't able to keep his concentration together any longer and the cry of protest never reached Anakin's side of the bond.

Ahsoka tried to steal Obi-Wan from her Master. "Can I hold him?"

"No."

"Aw, but he's so cute! Please, Master!"

"No, Ahsoka."

"Pretty please!"

"Begging is not becoming of a Jedi."

"But-"

Obi-Wan sighed in his head. Clearly, this had been a mistake. Perhaps the 212th would have been a better bet. He bit Anakin's hand who let out a painful yelp before dropping the puppy Jedi on the ground.

Obi-Wan hit the dirt running as he sprinted out of the tent and back in the direction of the 212th.

Anakin and Ahsoka ran out of the tent after the dog but were unable to catch him. Thus Anakin gave his strangest order of the war; "Catch that puppy!"

If the 501st were in the least bit confused as they followed their General, Commander, and Captain and chased a tiny dog out of camp and into the forest, they hid it rather well.

Anakin had to call Cody now and tell him the news. The clone was not going to take this well.

* * *

**I don't know why, but I just love the image of Anakin yelling at the 501st to chase a dog. You know some of them just looked at each other and said something along the lines of, "Welp. Our General has finally lost it. I'm going to request a transfer when we get back." ****It just makes me laugh. **

**Hope you all liked the update. Please leave a review telling us what you liked and did not like about this chapter. It improves the writing (and gives me and my newly Knighted Padawan the motivation to finish the last three chapters...)**


	3. Meet the General(?)

**Hello there. Sorry about the wait. Here is the next chapter! Hope y'all enjoy!**

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CT-5711 was unpacking his kit in his barracks. It had been about three hours since the General had been reported missing and most of the clones were out searching for him. The commander had ordered all of the shinies to report to their assigned barracks until further instruction.

So that is what the newbie was going to do. He was very excited to be out in the field with his older brothers and wasn't going to mess up on his first day.

After putting away what little possessions he had, CT-5711 pulled out a pair of needles and a ball of black and white yarn.

Buzzer noted the supplies and let out a groan. "You seriously brought your knitting supplies! Kriff, little bro! We're in a war!"

"Knitting makes me happy! And it calms my nerves…"

"Right…" Buzzer facepalmed. "What are you nervous about this time?"

"Well, our General is missing-"

"I've been told he does that. A lot. It's a weekly occurrence."

"-and I promised you a scarf, remember?" CT-5711 grinned at Buzzer, who shut up real quick. Scarfs made by the clone were considered a thousand credits in the eyes of any of his brothers back on Kamino. They were soft, warm, and gave some sort of comfort to them.

CT-5711 went back to knitting as his fellow brothers finished unpacking and slowly exited the tent. He shrugged and mumbled to himself, "Maybe I should get some orange yarn for some color…" It would match the 212th nicely.

He hadn't been five minutes alone when a small ball of fur sprinted into the tent and dove under the clone's bed. CT-5711 fell back in shock, tumbling off his bed and on the ground. He looked up and found a trembling puppy with bright blue-gray eyes. The clone got on his knees before calling in a soft voice. "Don't be frightened. I won't hurt you…"

The puppy crawled on his stomach, poking his head out from under the bed.

"That's it. It's all right." CT-5711 smiled and put out his hand. He let out a small laugh as the dog began to lick his hand and let out playful and cute barks. He wagged his tail and pounced on the clone, sending him on his back.

CT-5711 laughed and scratched the little dog behind the ears. "Aww… ain't you the cutest thing?" He picked up the dog and cradled it in his arms. "Don't you worry, little guy. Everything is going to be alri-"

The door to the tent was flung open and in sprinted Commander Cody with a frantic look on his face, "Have you seen-?" His voice abruptly cut off as he caught sight of the shiny with the dog in his arms.

Waxer and Boil filed in behind Cody, Waxer grinning broadly.

CT-5711 looked up, his smile dying slightly. "Um… I didn't bring the dog in. It came in by itself. Please don't be mad."

Cody was vaguely reminded of a tiny child pleading to not be in trouble. "Don't worry, I believe you." His gaze turned to the dog. "General, do you want to get the shinies in trouble?"

The dog started to whine softly. CT-5711 looked down at the dog, scratching him behind the ear. "Is that his name? General? Do we have a dog in the 212th?"

Cody pinched his nose. "No. _Apparently_, General Kenobi got turned into a puppy…somehow."

The scratching stopped and the shiny froze. He looked up, his face turning into horror. "You mean… this is the General? As in General Kenobi?"

"Apparently so." Cody felt a little guilty as the shiny's face fell.

"Oh." The clone put the dog on the ground, trying to hide his disappointment and embarrassment. He had just been petting his General. That was weird on so many levels. To his surprise, the puppy turned back around and placed his paws on the clone, whining and barking to be picked up again.

Cody stared for a moment, before sighing. "Go ahead, soldier. He seems to enjoy you."

CT-5711 picked up the dog again and hesitantly cuddled against him, "He's so cute! I know he's the general, but look at him!" The clone grinned at his commander, who just shook his head.

This was the scene that Captain Rex, Anakin, and Ahsoka found a few minutes later. All were confused, but none were willing to tear the tiny puppy from the clone, as both appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Anakin leaned over to Cody and mumbled, "The Jedi Council wants to see the General. We're being ordered back to Coruscant until further notice."

"I'll tell the men."

"We leave as soon as possible…" Anakin glanced over at his barking master. "I think the Council is going to be very surprised."

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**GAH, the fluff! Honestly, I don't know how this idea popped into our heads. It's a little of the wall and is in no way canon-compliant, but whatever. It's about having fun, right? Please leave a review to tell us what you thought!**


	4. Jedi Council's Surprise

**We're getting so close to finishing this story (at least in writing. We still have quite a few chapters to update with). And oh boy, wait until you see what happens. **

**In the meantime, enjoy this update!**

* * *

Surprised was a very broad term to the emotions of the Jedi Council. As soon as Anakin and Ahsoka walked in, flanked by a small puppy that sang of Obi-Wan's Force signature, the entire council seemed to freeze in time for several minutes.

Yoda broke the silence with a soft chuckle. Several of the other members stifled laughter and giggles. Mace Windu looked horrified, standing up and circling the small dog.

Obi-Wan was not amused. He growled at Master Yoda, who promptly whacked him with his glimmer stick (not too hard though; even the Grandmaster Yoda had to admit his great-grand padawan was a cute puppy). "A dog you are, yes. Jedi remain. Growling, solve the problem, will not."

'_Yes, Great-grand-master.' _Obi-Wan whimpered softly from the tap but shook his thoughts back together. '_I am having a small bit of trouble… remaining about my wits.'_

Master Windu tried to pick up the small dog, but Obi-Wan darted between his legs and up to his empty chair. He jumped up on it and sat down, looking at the black and white Jedi.

Internally all of the Jedi thought it was the most adorable thing they had ever seen, but all managed to distract themselves or contain their emotions within.

"This is a great concern to the Jedi, and to the Republic. What could turn a Jedi Master into… well, a puppy?" Mace managed to speak first, his face as straight as ever. "Obi-Wan? What exactly happened?"

'_I was walking through the forest with Wooley when-'_ Obi-Wan's voice suddenly cut off and he scratched a spot behind his ear. He did this for about ten seconds before looking around at the council, a tad confused. '_What were we talking about again?'_

Yoda resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Mind of a puppy, you have. Short attention span, yes?"

'_And a few other problems.'_

Anakin scoffed. "Like chasing every transport that flew past us. I had to put him on a leash until we got in the temple."

"But how did you get in this state?" Mace tried again to get an answer.

Obi-Wan laid on his stomach and placed his head on his crossed paws. '_Wooley and I were in the forest scouting. We were just heading back when I felt a small discrepancy in the Force. It wasn't dangerous or anything so I pushed it aside. I thought it was an animal or something. I turned to follow Wooley… and then I blacked out. I woke up like this.'_

Anakin interrupted his Master, "And he is just getting stranger and stranger. Sometimes he's himself and other times…"

Obi-Wan suddenly stood up and dove off his chair. He looked under his paws and made a small whimper before barking and chasing a small moth around the room. Ahsoka began to chase after him calling, "Sit! Obi-Wan, sit down! Stop it! Bad dog!" and a few other commands. Puppy Obi-Wan didn't seem to hear her and finally caught the moth in his mouth.

He then spat it out and everyone heard the Jedi's mental freak out about how he almost swallowed a bug.

"That happens." Anakin finished.

The Council began to discuss what to do with the dog. He was obviously not completely Obi-Wan, as the animal's instincts were strong enough to overtake him for a brief period of time. And when he wasn't chasing his tail or trying to chew on the furniture, Obi-Wan insisted on not being placed in the med bay while the Jedi tried to reverse the situation. And a stubborn Obi-Wan was hard to dissuade indeed.

'_The Force did this. It can undo it when deemed necessary. I refuse to leave the 212th and the war because of this situation… although I suppose another Jedi may be needed to oversee… myself.'_

The debate took hours. The decision took even longer. Near the end, Obi-Wan ended up falling asleep from the pure exhaustion of trying to keep focused. Ahsoka held him in her arms and curled up in the corner, also tired from chasing the dog around.

The Council came to a decision just as the sun was setting.

"Remain with Skywalker, Obi-Wan will. 212th, placed under you. Help in any way, Obi-Wan will." Yoda gave a grim nod.

Mace Windu continued, "The 501st will still be under you. Commander Tano will help with any gaps in the system. While you're in the field, the Temple will look into this… puppy transformation."

"So…" Anakin pinched his nose. "I'm dog-sitting?"

Yoda chuckled. "Dog treats, you will need."

"Great… Come on, Snips." Anakin turned around and exited the room. Ahsoka flinched awake before sprinting after her master, dog in her arms.

* * *

Cody blinked at the dog, who was sitting on the holo-table in the command room of _The Negotiator_. General Skywalker stood behind him, his expression just annoyed as Cody felt.

"So… the Jedi can't reverse this?"

"They're investigating and your General is refusing to remain in the temple."

Cody and Wooley shared a look of annoyance. '_Kriffing stubborn Jedi…' _"And we're in charge of him?"

General Skywalker gave a shrug. "I'm taking charge of both the 501st and 212th, and since we're stationed on the same planet, it shouldn't be too difficult. But I will be relying on you," he pointed at the commander and captain, "to keep your men together during this… strange occurrence."

"Yes, sir!" Cody and Wooley snapped to stiff attention before being dismissed from the command center.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Wooley shook his head, "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

"Don't we all, Wooley. Don't we all…"

* * *

**We've all got a bad feeling about this Wooley. Or at least, I think we do.**

**What do y'all think?**


	5. Operation Bath Time

**Hey all! I know it's been a little while but I do have an excuse!**

**Okay, I really don't. I've just been trying to finish up a ton of my partially done fanfics so I've been spread. However, I do think you'll like some of the things I've been working on so stay tuned for some fun! Also, General Kanine is technically NOT finished. We have like, the last three chapters to get done so... I'm kind of trying to keep updates spaced so you don't have to wait for me to finish the chapters.**

**But here is a very fluffy (and wet) update! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

CT-5711 crouched behind the crate, peering over with narrowed eyes. He ducked back down, activating his com. "I'm in position."

"That's the last one, Commander." Wooley nodded to a tense Cody.

Cody nodded in confirmation, his nerves on the edge. "We got one shot at this, boys. Make it count."

A few soft, "yes, sir"'s were heard before the clones fell silent. Cody picked up his weapon for the mission and nodded to Wooley. "On my mark."

The captain nodded copying his commander's actions.

A few tense seconds went by before Cody suddenly yelled, "Now!"

Light Squad, Checkered Squad, Waxer, Boil, Wooley, and Cody all leaped out from their hiding places and pounced into the middle of the camp clearing, blankets in hands. The sounds of muffled yelling and fighting arose from the groups with calls of, "I got him!" and "Lost him!" mixed with barks and growls.

The incident went on for about five minutes before ending with all fourteen clones tied up in themselves on the ground.

General Kenobi, the puppy, sat on the sidelines glaring at all of them, his message obvious. "_Did you really think blankets could catch me?"_

Cody groaned, laying his head back on the ground. "Anyone else have an idea?"

A sudden high pitched yelp was heard and all of the clones whirled over to find a very angry Bacta, arms crossed and glaring. In his right hand was a net, in which a squirming Obi-Wan was. "I gave you one job. ONE JOB. Catch Kenobi. What happened?"

Cody opened his mouth to speak but Bacta held up a hand. "Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it." He turned on his heels and marched away to the waiting tub of soap and water.

Obi-Wan immediately began to whine and growl in protest.

Of all the clones, only CT-5711 felt any compassion. "Do we really have to do this?"

"It's for his own good, shiny. We can't have a filthy General." Cody hurried over to the tub ready to help keep his general down.

Every other clone in the area moved into position. Operation 'Bath Time' was about to commence.

For the next little while, yelps and barks could be heard throughout the camp, as well as shouts of, "Stop struggling General!", "Ack! I'm soaked!", and "It's for your own good!"

Finally, after a harrowing 10 minutes, the little puppy was finally clean. The clones, however, were a completely different story. Each and everyone was soaked and covered from head to toe in soap suds.

Cody glared down at his spotless general, trying to intimidate him. It didn't work. Obi-Wan simply stared back at his commander, not in the least affected by his disgruntled second in command. He barked and ran over to a pile of mud.

The commander would have followed him, but he had no energy. He watched as the clean puppy became a filthy one again as Obi-Wan rolled around in the mud.

Cody groaned and buried his face in his hands as the general barked at his soldiers and sprinted off. All the clones, except Bacta (who just growled and marched off to his medical tent, muttering something about "kriffing Jedi…"), turned and looked at their older brother, waiting to see his reaction.

"...I don't even care anymore. If he wants to be dirty, fine." Cody got up from his spot on the ground. "Go get changed, soldiers."

He left to head toward his tent, intent on getting into dry armor. Once he did so, he located the general who was happily chasing a butterfly around. Cody shook his head, smiling slightly. Obi-Wan was in what Anakin called his 'puppy mindset', where the calm collected Jedi disappeared completely, leaving behind a distracted puppy.

The general suddenly skidded to a halt, glancing the other way abruptly. '_Speaking of distracted…'_ Cody thought to himself as the dog took off in a different direction, barking madly.

Following Obi-Wan, the commander discovered that General Skywalker and Commander Tano had entered the camp. And Obi-Wan was welcoming them.

Cody forced down a laugh as General Kenobi jumped up on Anakin, causing his ex-padawan to yelp and gingerly catch the puppy. Ahsoka laughed at the look on her master's face as he held the dirty, squirming puppy.

"Let me hold him, Master!" The Togruta said, almost hopping up and down with eagerness. Anakin handed the dog over, who promptly began to lick Ahsoka's face.

Turning to Cody, General Skywalker said, "I take it that Operation 'Bath Time' was a bust?" Cody nodded and snapped off a salute. "Yessir. It took about one minute for General Kenobi to undo our work."

Anakin sighed. "Of all the things…" He pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, then glanced up at the commander.

"I'm just going to leave Obi-Wan the way he is right now. He seems to be fine with it at the moment…" They both glanced over to where the puppy and Ahsoka were playing. Obi-Wan seemed to have escaped the padawan's grasp and led her to the mud pile.

General Skywalker shook his head slightly. "When he comes back around, you can give him a bath. I'll tell you when he starts freaking out over the bond." A delighted scream was heard from the area where Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were, causing Anakin to grin.

"In the meantime, we should let Ahsoka and Obi-Wan have their fun. We can manage planning tactics without them, right Cody?"

The commander saluted again. "Of course, sir." With that, the pair started off towards the improvised command center in the middle of the camp.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were happily chasing each other through the mud. The young padawan had since given up trying to keep somewhat clean and was diving and lunging at the little puppy, getting completely splattered with the brown, sticky stuff.

Obi-Wan was barking madly and slipping around, looking for all the world like a little mud monster. Ahsoka took a wild dive across the dirty pile and caught the puppy with an 'ooof'. Standing up with the wiggling dog, the Togruta giggled looking down and seeing how filthy he was.

"Master, you're so dirty!" she giggled. She could never remember Obi-Wan ever being covered in mud.

His only response was soft growling and barking as Obi-Wan tried to escape her grasp. Ahsoka let him go and joined in the chase again after a minute.

By the time Anakin and Cody had finished their meeting and had walked back to the mud pile, both master and padawan were covered from head to toe (or tail in Obi-Wan's case) in the slimy substance. They were still wrestling around in the mud pile, and Anakin couldn't help running to get a holo camera and snapping a few shots, snickering.

The dirty pair suddenly stopped moving around and lay panting on the ground, Obi-Wan on top of Ahsoka's stomach, tongue lolling out. The padawan glanced to the side and saw her master snapping holos and laughing. She scowled. "Hey!"

Sitting up, ignoring the little puppy's yelp as he tumbled from her stomach with a splat, Ahsoka grabbed a handful of mud and slung it in the direction of Anakin. He easily dodged the mudball, taking another picture before taking off as his padawan had enough, and began to chase him.

Cody shook his head and laughed softly at the pair. They never failed to provide entertainment, even in the direst situations. He turned his attention back to the mud as a bark sounded. Obi-Wan was jumping up and down, splattering the liquidy stuff. The commander grimaced. "General, please stop. You're already filthy."

The puppy didn't listen, instead ran towards Cody. He placed his paws on the clone's lower leg and barked up at the clone, pawing at him. The commander glared down at Obi-Wan, before rolling his eyes. "Fine, General."

Kneeling down, he grimaced slightly as the dog leaped up into his lap and licked his face. Grabbing hold of the slippery, wriggling puppy, Cody stood up and walked off to find General Skywalker and Commander Tano, trying not to care about how his clean armor was getting caked in mud.

He didn't have to look very long. Anakin and Ahsoka turned up near the medical tent, the elder Jedi dodging around his frustrated padawan, giggling. "C'mon Master, stop that!" The muddy Togruta pleaded as Anakin held the holocamera well above her reach.

Suddenly the flap to the medical tent flapped open and Bacta stood there, hands on his hips, and glaring menacingly, the red and gray paint making him stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of orange. Cody really needed to talk to Bacta about getting his paint changed.

The Jedi froze, and stood in place for a moment before bolting, both shouting in unison, "Bye Cody, bye Master!" as they disappeared behind another tent.

The clone commander rolled his eyes and shook his head, exasperated. It seemed as though everyone had learned that avoiding Bacta was the best for your personal well being. Squirming in his arms reminded Cody of the puppy he held in his arms. Obi-Wan was wiggling around again, eyeing Bacta with a suspicious glare. It seemed that even when the general was unaware of who exactly he was, he still recognized the medical symbol on his shoulder.

Bacta frowned, before marching closer to Cody and Obi-Wan. "He's _still _muddy?" The medic asked incredulously. The older clone sighed. "Yeah. General Skywalker thought it would be best to just let General Kenobi be, and get him clean once he regained his awareness."

The red-haired clone raised a brow. "And when might that be?" Cody shrugged.

"No idea. It could be a couple of hours or it could be-" The little dog in his arms suddenly stiffened and began to bark, fighting to get free. Both clones frowned and Bacta leaned forward, peering cautiously at their general.

"...What's wrong with him?"

Cody blinked and held the dog tighter, looking down at the obviously distressed Obi-Wan as well. "I don't know." The puppy suddenly slipped free of the clone's hands and hit the ground with a yelp. He took off as soon as he recovered, leaving both clones staring after him in surprise.

"...He's your responsibility. Goodbye."

With that parting comment, Bacta turned on his heel and vanished back into the medical tent. Cody took a moment to look up into the heavens and wonder how in the galaxy he was _this unlucky. _Then he proceeded to chase his wayward general.

Surprisingly, General Skywalker and Commander Tano seemed to have forgotten the medic threat and met up with the clone on his way to track down the eldest Jedi. Anakin grinned as he saw the clone. "Obi-Wan finally came to his senses and you shoulda heard his freak out!"

Ahsoka laughed beside her master. "I betcha Master Obi-Wan is never gonna forgive us for the holos!" Cody, despite the situation of the lost puppy, smiled slightly. His general was _never _living this down…

They found Obi-Wan sitting in the previously abandoned tub where the 212th had attempted to clean their general. He was staring at the three of them as they approached, looking for all the world like he was begging them to clean him.

Anakin laughed suddenly. "He says, 'If you show those holos to the Jedi Council, I will make your life miserable!'" Cody grinned and Ahsoka giggled as Obi-Wan indignantly glared at the group. '_I am never forgiving any of you…'_

5 minutes later, the little dog was finally clean and luckily stayed that way.

Until the next week after another rainstorm.

* * *

**Oh, Puppy-Wan. We think you are adorable!**

**But guess what? You're not always going to be fluff. That's right, we have some angst in this story! Near the end of it... Aka, the chapters I have not finished. **

**Whoops.**

**Please review, favorite, and share with your friends!**

**Baxer: Oh Force, that is funny because I was just reading through Domino reviews the other day! Ugh, that story is AMAZING. Thanks for the presents!**

**Medical Officer: Actually, funny you should bring up the "other" medic. Because I may have just written him into one of the "unfinished" fics of mine and you may see him soon.**

**Sniper elite 4: That sounds very interesting, however, I'm going to be "retiring" from Fanfic soon. So I'm not doing any new stories past what I already have. Thank you for the idea though! There is a Batman fanfic that kind of reminds me of it... which I now I have to go reread.**


	6. Names

***typing away on several other Star Wars fanfics at ten pm* Gee, Era, you should update General Kanine.**

**"But I just updated!" *checks update date* "Okay, so maybe it has been a little while. But not that long!"**

**You should still update.**

**Fine. I must be really tired. **

**To everyone, I have a fun little announcement at the end of this, albeit, short update. See you down there. In the meantime, please enjoy this... well, filler chapter? But hey, we have some fun with names.**

* * *

On _The Negotiator,_ Cody woke up to a high shrill sound. He rolled over on his sleeper and tried to block it out, but to no avail.

Someone in the barracks groaned, "What is that?"

A moan from the right told Cody that Woolley was up as well. "I don't know, but whatever it is, _make it stop._"

Boil groaned from the left, "Waxer, check it out."

"Why me?"

"You're on the bottom bunk…" Cody heard Boil roll over with a groan.

Waxer protested again, "It's too early to get up."

"It's almost five anyway. Get up."

"Why don't you get up?"

Cody gave up trying to block out the sounds and opened his eyes, blinking to get the sleep blur to fade. Everyone in the barracks was rolling and groaning about the noise, but not a single one was out of bed.

'_The joy of being a commander…'_ Cody sat up and slung his legs over the side, standing up with a stretch. He groaned and rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes. "Alright men, everyone up."

A large protest rose up from the men, but Cody waved them all aside. Time to find the source of the whining.

He walked around the barracks, ignoring the groans and moans from the men. To his surprise, the cause was rather easy to find.

Obi-Wan was sitting at the foot of the door, whining. His head turned towards Cody and ran over, placing his front paws on the Commander's legs and looking up with his big eyes.

Cody stared, too shocked to respond. "General… is something wrong?"

A cute bark responded and Obi-Wan turned around and ran back to the door, scratching on the metal surface.

"Do you… want out?"

Obi-Wan wagged his tail furiously.

"Okay…" Cody opened the door and the dog shot out like a bullet as soon as he was able. Cody stood there for a moment before shaking his head slowly.

'_So that just happened.'_

* * *

The shinies were enjoying the puppy General.

Probably more than they should be.

CT-5711 was holding him in his lap, scratching him behind the ears, rubbing his tummy, and basically spoiling him rotten. His squadmates were gathered around trying to get their turns, but no one wanting to grab the dog away from their happy younger brother.

Finally, Buzzer had enough and attempted to pry the dog out of his brother's arms. "Alright fifty-seven eleven, my turn."

The clone in question made a pouty face but handed the dog over.

Obi-Wan immediately began to squirm, eager to get away. Buzzer growled softly and pinned the dog to his lap before looking the General over. "I don't see any cuts or anything."

Cliff rolled his eyes. "Buzzer, Bacta can take care of the dog's check-up. He is the head medic, after all."

"Well, did you hear his freak out the other day?" Buzzer argued, his medic instincts kicking into high gear. His voice became louder as he 'mimicked' Bacta (which was kind of pointless since they had the same voice). "'What do I look like? A vet? I work with humans! CLONES to be exact! A dog? A puppy!? Kriff, send me back to medical training!' He was about to chuck the dog into hyperspace!" Buzzer looked down, his eyes slightly narrowed, "And I see why. Hold still, Kenobi!"

Obi-Wan gave out a soft growl and lept out of Buzzer's hands before crouching to the ground, his eyes narrowed at the young medic.

Marsh rolled his eyes, placing his hand on Buzzer's shoulder, "You keep this up and you'll be the next Bacta…"

Buzzer seemed to brighten at these words. "Do you really think so? I want to be a good medic, and Bacta is one of the best!"

Dodge groaned from the corner and buried his head in his hands. "Kriff, there's two of them…"

CT-5711 tried to pick up Obi-Wan again, but it appeared that the Jedi had gone into his 'puppy mindset' and decided to play keep away. The clone attempted to grab the dog several times and found himself on the ground or simply missing. Meanwhile, Marsh and Buzzer were getting into an argument about the difference between a good medic and Bacta. Cliff rolled his eyes and was about to join Dodge in the corner when the other shiny squad that had arrived with them knocked.

"Hey! Checkered!" Click poked his head in, "Mind if we join you?"

Cliff grinned. "Hey, Light. As long as you don't mind Marsh and Buzz."

Trigger and Soft Shot, well, shot into the room and tried to grab Obi-Wan, but the dog ran under one of the bunks. Rift started to rant in Mando'a (again) at his brother Zee (who ignored him) something about proper dog training, but everyone else in the room couldn't keep up with the fast spouted words and phrases. Click shook his head and shifted through the scattered clones, avoiding anyone bumping into him as he tore the old communicator in his hands apart.

"Whatcha doin' over there, Click?" Cliff tried to grab the com, but Click made sure to keep it out of reach of his reckless brother.

Trigger popped up from underneath a bed, "He is still working on that transmitter collar. He won't leave it alone for a second."

"Well, I am getting sick of trying to find the General when he is missing. A missing person is hard enough, but a dog? Poor Commander Cody has almost lost it three times in the past week!" Click pried the com apart and examined the metal, checking its condition. "And a stressed Commander is a stressed unit."

Marsh patted his brother on the back. "Apparently, this is normal for Commander Pillow."

Rift plopped down on the barracks bed, watching CT-5711 run and slip around on the floor chasing the dog. "Alright, we need to get you a name!"

The announcement caught everyone off guard causing the youngest, nameless clone to drop the captured puppy back on the ground.

Marsh agreed immediately. "I honestly do not know why you do not have one."

Trigger grinned. "How about Shiny?"

"Uh, no." Soft Shot glared at his batchmate, "We don't want him to be a shiny forever!"

"But he already is!" Trigger argued back. The rest of the conversation did not include either of them because they were too busy arguing.

Rift suggested 'Hound' since CT-5711 loved the dog so much. Both Cliff and Dodge agreed that it was too fierce for their youngest brother. Buzzer brought up Fluffy, which was vetoed by everyone immediately. Marsh began suggesting names that had to do with communicating since that was what he was training to do. But no one really liked 'Knob' or 'Antena'. Meanwhile, their nameless brother continued to chase the puppy around the room, slipping and sliding on the freshly waxed tile of the ship.

Zee watched him, keeping silent, but growing frustrated with his brothers. A name was important and no one seemed to notice that the brother in question was not even paying attention. Zee was kind of withdrawn, but he cared about his brothers just as much, if not more than any clone, and CT-5711 was more than an average brother. He was the bright-eyed youth that survived the vigorous training that all clones went through, but somehow kept all of his childish cheer. But he was strong and would survive for many battles to come. Strong and bright…

The clone in question suddenly fell on the ground as he dove for the insane puppy, sliding across the waxed tile.

Something clicked in Zee's head and before he could stop himself, he yelled, "Tile! Leave the dog alone!"

'Tile' froze and looked at Zee, a peculiar expression on his face. He slowly grinned. "But General Kanine is so fluffy!"

Zee facepalmed as Tile ran around the room again, the dog barking and growling playfully with the clone. "Ti, you are going to-"

Marsh interrupted tapping his chin. "Tile… why Tile?"

Tile dove for the dog again. "I like it!"

Everyone else rolled their eyes but decided it suited their little brother. The nine of them went back to their activities (aka, one of them pulled out Sabak) and Tile finally gave up to go work on knitting.

Obi-Wan looked out from under the bed and internally smiled at the shinies. He enjoyed playing with them a little too much and would never admit how often he did it even in his normal mindset. But he loved watching their dynamic with each other. The general couldn't be prouder of his men.

* * *

**Hallo again! Sorry about the wait, but I'm trying to finish this story. Good news! I got past the angsty part! Bad news! I'm putting off the ending. Ugh...**

**On better news, Commander Pillow is going to be getting some more chapters in the foreseeable future! They will be taking place before General Kanine and near the beginning of the Clone Wars. Aka, we get to meet the medic before Bacta. I'm actually really excited to post it so it will hopefully be done in the next little while. Hopefully. Who knows, I may get distracted by my other fanfics. Ugh.**

**Anyway, please leave a review about Tile's name. Do you like it? Do you think it would be better if he was just Shiny? Originally, my Padawan and I made him Tile because he was Waxer's "apprentice" in pranks. Waxer... Tile... get it? But that wasn't a good enough reason in the actual story so we had to come up with another explanation. I rather like it. Also, Tile is the one who started the whole "General Kanine" thing. **

**Gosh, I love these clones. *hugs the clones tightly* Why must I torture you all?**

**May the Force Be With You until next time!**


	7. Puppy Blasters and BEN

**Y'all know the drill by now. Whoops on updating, here is the chapter, please enjoy, etc.**

* * *

Cody decided he did not like fighting droids when his general was a puppy. True, General Skywalker helped out and Commander Tano was also there, but it was not the same. Especially when the dog was running around like a maniac almost getting killed.

And to make it worse, Tile was practicing his radio signals with the strangest code Cody had ever heard.

"_Pillow! Fury wants you to report to the Wookie!"_

Cody frowned and ducked down behind a rock as incoming fire sprayed around him. He assumed he was "Pillow", but he did not have the slightest idea what Tile was talking about after that.

Luckily for him, Marsh was crouched next to him. "Ti is telling you to head to the back. Bacta wants to see you."

Cody raised an eyebrow. "Tile does know the standard code, right?"

Marsh nodded. "Yes, sir. He just prefers his code for orders that are not… standard. Usually when only one person is needed somewhere."

Cody thought for a moment. "And much more confusing for the enemy. Send me a copy and I will look it over. Then maybe I won't have your squadmate moved to maintenance."

Marsh nodded, a little embarrassed. "Sorry, sir. I was going to remind him to not use it. We used it in training sessions just a few hours ago."

Ti's voice came back over the radio. "_Move back four, Pillow. Ben has been spotted in Mando'a Basic and Fury wants you to grab him."_

Cody looked over to Marsh for translation.

"Cancel that order. Bacta wants you to grab General Kenobi. He's at the right front."

"Ben?" Cody asked, a little afraid of the answer.

Marsh hesitated. "B. E. N. Bacta's Eternal Nightmare."

Cody had to agree with that statement. "Tell Tile I am going." He stood up and began to sprint around the enemy, shooting at any droids in range. As he ran he barely heard Marsh's reply, "This is Swampy, Pillow has accepted the party favors and is flying to the stage."

Cody decided not to ask.

* * *

Waxer learned a few things in this battle. One, Tile was much more fun than him. And two, General Kenobi liked to play fetch, but in reverse. Both were complete surprises.

In fact, Waxer almost fell over in shock the first time Tile came over the com with an order that wasn't moving forward or hitting harder. Boil had to cover him for ten seconds while his brother burst out laughing then ran behind cover. He grinned at Boil. "I have got to find this kid and train him in the ways of pranking."

"No, you really don't." Boil shot another droid, getting back down. "Cody will kill you for corrupting the shinies."

Waxer grinned. "That is exactly what makes it so exciting!" He stood up and threw a grenade in the general direction of mayhem, before ducking back down.

Boil rolled his eyes. "Waxer, you're a-"

Whatever he was, Waxer never got to find out because a sudden ball of fur slammed into Boil's legs. The clone cried out in shock, "General!"

Obi-Wan barked sharply, growling at something behind Boil. Waxer got up and shot the approaching battle droid before ducking down again. "Thanks, General!"

Boil rolled his eyes to heaven, "Great… now we're dog sitters."

Waxer laughed, pulling out another grenade. "Well, do you prefer Twi'leks?"

A missile flew right by the two men exploding behind them. The two fell to the earth, covering their heads. During the mayhem, Waxer dropped his grenade, which began to count down on impact.

Boil cursed and tried to get up, but tripped on his own feet in a panic. '_Well, kriff. I never thought I'd die by my own army's weapon.'_

He saw a ball of fuzz suddenly sprint forward, grab the grenade, then sprint off into enemies. A few seconds later, a tank exploded. Boil got to his feet, his mind filling with terror. "General! General Kenobi!"

Waxer sat up, rubbing his head. "Kriff, what happened?"

Obi-Wan suddenly appeared, jumped up on Waxer and began to bark at him. He had the impression that he was being scolded by a dog… and the thought made him laugh. Boil let out a breath of relief. "That's a relief. Cody would have killed us for that."

"Killed you for what?" Cody suddenly came into sight, grabbing Boil and dragging him to the ground just as blaster fire rang out.

Waxer grinned, shifting the dog off of him. "We taught General Kanine reversed fetch!"

"Reversed… what?"

The puppy lunged, grabbed the grenade with his mouth from Cody's hand that the clone had just pulled out and sprinted off into the fight. Cody cursed and leaped to his feet to go after his general, but Boil grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back down.

"Easy, Commander. The General will be fine."

Cody glared. "He'd better be or I will have you both court-martialled."

Waxer grinned. "Ah, relax Pillow!"

Something in the distance blew up and ten seconds later, Obi-Wan returned, wagging his tail and panting. He barked at the clones again. Obediently, Waxer pulled out another grenade and placed it on the ground. The dog snatched it up and sprinted off.

Cody scratched his head. "Well… I suppose that is one way for the General to get involved."

Tile came over on the radio, giggling, "_Ben has just inspired a new word! Puppy Blasters away!"_

Cody facepalmed. Boil rolled his eyes. Waxer burst out laughing.

* * *

**Once, my Padawan and I wrote out an entire radio communication between Tile and the 212th. It was quite funny. The 501st joined in halfway through and chaos ensued. Of course, my favorite part was when Obi-Wan lost his "stick" (his lightsaber) and it was found by Waxer. Most clones did not know what to think of that.**

**Anyway, enjoy the update, please leave a review if you did, and I hope y'all are enjoying the end of the year parties, celebrations, and holidays!**


	8. Hide 'n' Seek

**This chapter is just full of fluff and nonsense so I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

They had another four hours in hyperspace until _The Negotiator_ would arrive at Coruscant for the ship's full maintenance check-up. So of course Waxer came up with an idea that got all of the shinies very excited.

Cody was less excited. "And how exactly is this game… productive?"

Waxer shrugged. "Practicing stealth. If you want, you can be the seeker while the rest of us hide."

Cody pinched his nose. "I don't think we should-"

A small bark came from the ground. Cody looked down at the puppy who was looking at him with these big eyes. He wagged his tail and spun in a circle twice.

Tile let out a little cheer. "General Kanine approves!"

"Of course he does…" Cody grumbled. Sometimes he had a feeling that Obi-Wan was starting to _enjoy_ being a dog. At least in the sense that a dog outranked him. "Get hiding."

Checkered Light (as the ten new shinies were now called) cheered and sprinted off, Waxer dragging Boil right behind him.

"How does this happen?" Cody asked aloud. Obi-Wan barked before pawing the Commander to be picked up. He obliged and received a few friendly licks on his hand for it. "Are you trying to make me like this?"

_Ruff!_

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

Cody was starting to enjoy himself. Mostly because all he had to do was follow the dog. Obi-Wan was sniffing the ground, following the trail of any clone in the game. First to be found was Buzzer (he was in the medical bay) followed shortly by Marsh and Cliff (they had been hiding in a parked gunship). Waxer and Boil had run off with Tile and were hiding in the mess among their fellow brothers (_that_ had been an experience). Eventually, Obi-Wan had found everyone.

Well, almost everyone.

Cody had been learning about the new shinies over the past few weeks- and one thing he knew from experience was that you never stopped learning about them. "Where's Zee? We have searched the entire ship."

Click snorted. "Zee is kinda a loner and as such, knows how to hide. We just wait for him to show back up after an hour."

Cody raised an eyebrow. "What do you do in the meantime?"

Rift grinned and pulled out a Sabacc deck.

Two hours and a one thousand imaginary credit debt to Soft Shot (seriously, his poker face was impressive), Zee finally appeared. No one made a comment about his disappearance and he joined the game- proving to be a better player than his 'rich' brother.

Obi-Wan was curled up on the ground on Cody's feet, fast asleep. Hunting clones had been a little exhausting and for some reason, Obi-Wan still seemed to still see Cody as a pillow, even as a dog. Cody had no idea what to think of this but could find no reason to complain.

Until Bacta entered the room. "ALRIGHT. WHERE IS HE?" He shouted so loudly that anyone who hadn't folded dropped their cards on the table in shock.

Before anyone could respond Obi-wan leaped to his feet and ran out of the room as fast as a puppy can run. Bacta followed close behind leaving a room of shinies and a confused commander behind.

Buzzer picked up his fallen cards. "Check up day." Like that explained everything. He then laid his cards down with a grin on his face. "Full Sabacc."

Everyone groaned, throwing their cards on the table as Buzzer collected his 'credits'.

* * *

Obi-Wan was hiding. More specifically hiding from Crazy Medic Man. He was currently under the bunk behind some boxes in the barracks. And he was starting to get bored. Sometimes it felt like his attention span was worse than a youngling.

Footsteps alerted the dog to the arrival of someone and a large squeak followed shortly after. His ears perked up. That sounded interesting. His tail wagged a little and he internally scolded himself. '_No, you are hiding. Stay put._'

SQUEAK.

'_Stay put, Obi-Wan. It is obviously a trap._'

SQUEAK. SQUEAK.

'_Oh forget it. I want the squeaking device!'_

Bacta let out a yelp as he was violently assaulted by barks and licks as Obi-Wan attempted to jump and grab the squeaky toy.

Bacta growled and began to wave the toy just out of reach. "Ya want it, then follow."

The dog chased the medic down the hall- or more specifically the toy. Maybe it was the noise, maybe it was the fact that Tile made it, or maybe it was the fact that looked like a certain duel red-bladed lightsaber-wielding Sith Lord that had decided to not stay dead. Anyway, the dog wanted it. And so he got it…

Once he arrived in the med bay. Obi-Wan was too occupied mauling the toy to pay attention to the undesired surroundings. By the time he did, it was too late.

Five minutes later, Buzzer, Tile, and Cody arrived to check on their General. The barks and whines were heard over two doors away and Tile immediately protested this cruel punishment.

"No one should ever endure Bacta. At least not alone! He sounds like he is being tortured! We have to save him!"

Cody grabbed Tile's arm before the shiny bolted. The last thing he needed was a shiny rebellion. "It's for his own good, Tile. But perhaps Buzzer should lend a hand or two."

Buzzer did not comment but groaned as he raced towards the bay. The mess was extensive, and Obi-Wan had somehow gotten his toy and was currently hiding under some medical equipment.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi! You come out this instant or I swear on the Force itself, you will not leave this bay for the next week! And Tile's visiting privileges will be revoked!"

Buzzer sighed. This was going to be a long day...

**Puppy Obi-Wan is one of the most random but wonderful things ever. And yes, Tile made a Darth Maul squeaky toy. I just like the image of the dog Obi-Wan chewing on that annoying Sith and it squeaks.**

**Is that weird?**

**Please review and favorite and feel free to answer this question. Who is your favorite shiny clone? We have Tile, Dodge, Marsh, Buzzer, Cliff, Click, Soft Shot, Trigger, Zee, and Rift. Not all of them have gotten character focus/development (yet) so it might be an easy question.**

**As for me; it's Dodge- and you will see why at a later date.**


	9. Angry Vet Bacta

**Well, I don't know about all of y'all, but this entire week I've been decked in Star Wars in preparation for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker! So I'm gonna say this now before we get too far: NO SPOILERS HERE.**

**Haven't seen it yet so keep your mouths shut. However, I thought since it's a big weekend for all of us, I'd update this for everyone who is like me and... well, can't get to the theater until later. So hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Cody swore it wasn't his fault but Bacta wasn't having any of it. The medic was currently sitting in the medical tent on the most recent planet after the most recent battle. The names of such places were of little importance to him. Bacta generally recalled battles by casualties or injury numbers and, on occasion, large or unique injuries. This specific battle was going to be called, "Broken Dog" in his books.

The battle had been going as well as any battle could be. The 501st was leading the charge like the reckless group they were and the 212th was picking up any droids left behind.

Bacta swore when he found Anakin he was going to strangle the man, even if it killed him. He had been on dog-sitting duty because guess who had just figured out he could lift things with the force? Yep. Puppy-Wan Kanine.

The 212th did _not_ need floating grenades and the occasional small furry creatures. Obi-Wan had become a particular nuisance to the small furry creatures of any world and would chase them around. So far, he hadn't caught any of them but all clones had been concerned if he did Obi-Wan would never forgive himself if he ate a living thing and no one wanted that.

Thus, Anakin "_Let's blow things up and forget any safety harnesses"_ Skywalker had been given charge of the dog.

Guess who forgot about/lost said dog? Skywalker!

Guess who thought of the brilliant idea giving Anakin charge of Kenobi? Cody!

So, in Bacta's mind, this was just as much Cody's fault as it was Skywalker's. Thus, Cody was banned from the medical tent for the next twenty-four hours. Let him pace outside the door and wait for reports of Kenobi's condition, but he was _not_ going to see the said dog.

As for him, Bacta was going to scramble around and yell orders at Buzzer as the two attempted to stabilize the injured dog. There was only one problem:

"I AM _NOT_ A _VET_!" Bacta dropped several packs of his namesake on the counter.

Buzzer tore one open and stood, waiting for directions. "As you keep saying, Bacta."

"Shut up and let me think shiny!" Bacta frowned down at the blob of fur and blood. The back leg was clearly broken. That needed to be set, but that wasn't his main concern. The concern was the burnt and singed fur that surrounded the laser blast through the dog's stomach. Although the wound had cauterized on impact, a movement had caused the wound to open and now they had blood. Infection was a risk and Bacta wasn't sure how much blood the dog had lost.

He made a note to lecture Cody and Skywalker for an hour about their carelessness and stupidity. And he'd better have Rex present too. That "captain" was starting to pick up too many bad habits from his "general".

"Shiny, get me some antibiotics, bandages, a holopad and give me that bacta!"

Buzzer handed the packet over and dashed off to get the supplies.

Obi-Wan was lying on his side, whining and whimpering in pain. He lifted his head to try and see Bacta, clearly distressed. Neither were helping Bacta's stress or anger levels. "Serves you right, Kenobi! A battlefield is no place for a dog!"

Obi-Wan whined and laid his head back down.

Bacta yelled, "Someone get me a sedative!"

A shot appeared in his hands a few seconds later and he gently pressed it into the dog's neck. "If you die, I'm gonna kill you Kenobi."

The dog whined again before falling silent as he fell into an induced sleep.

Buzzer returned only seconds later. Bacta ordered him to put down the supplies then pointed at the tent door. "I need small sticks. Go."

Buzzer looked confused. "Small… _sticks_?"

"_Yes_," Bacta rolled his eyes, "Now GET MOVING SHINY!"

Buzzer all but sprinted out the tent door, ignoring the pacing Commander Cody and his batchmates just outside.

The holo-pad was the first tool Bacta picked up. He quickly typed in 'dog anatomy' and pulled up the first holo that looked physically like Obi-Wan. The pad was then placed beside his work stand and the holographic dog was floating to Bacta's right. He scanned through muscle groups and vital organs in the section and identified the injured sections within one minute.

Buzzer arrived arms loaded with as many small sticks as he could find in a short amount of time. Bacta grabbed his tool kit and pulled out his needle and sterile thread and a clean cloth. As he spoke he took the antibacterial bottle and poured its contents on the clean cloth. "I need you to run an x-ray on Kenobi. We have to set his broken bone before throwing him into the bacta tank.

Buzzer actually took a step back, clearly mortified by the implications. "Can we put a _dog_ in a _bacta_ _tank_? Do we even have the right equipment for that?"

Bacta pressed the cloth against the wound and began to clean it the best he could without doing more damage. "No, but we don't have a choice. The blast has cut open his underside and Kenobi's liver, gallbladder, and small intestines are damaged. Possibly even his spleen. If we don't get him in a tank in the next ten minutes _he is going to die_."

Buzzer paled even further. "How are we going to do that? The breathing apparatus isn't made for dogs!"

Bacta growled, "Don't you think I know that?" The cloth was thrown aside and he applied a little bacta to the wound before threading his needle. "One of you shinies is a tinkerer, right?"

"Click?"

"Does it look like I care?" Bacta snapped. "Whoever it is, get them on the breathing apparatus."

Buzzer did as he was told, leaving Bacta to do a very loose stitching job. His goal was to hold the intestines inside and pray the muscles and skin would repair enough for the stupid Jedi to survive.

Click was trying not to panic as Buzzer took him inside and showed him the machine. Buzzer then dashed off to do a quick x-ray and set the dog's leg, leaving Click to figure this out in about seven minutes.

No pressure or anything.

Click pulled out some spare parts and grabbed the mask. It was big enough to fit over the dog's entire face, but the problem was the shape. The bacta would seep in through the empty spaces and Obi-Wan would end up inhaling it into his lungs, which would not help his health at all.

It would be better to start from scratch, but he didn't really have that kind of time. Best to keep it simple, right?

He pulled out one of the air apparatuses that are standardized equipment on any planet with large bodies of water. It only held enough air for a few minutes, if you used it sparingly, but that wasn't what he needed. Click broke off the mouthpiece and pulled out a screwdriver and small saw. An empty plastic bag that had been holding supplies was lying nearby and he scooped that up too. A pair of ear-plugs were produced from his pouch and he sat down on one of the counters. Time to get to work.

Bacta appeared five minutes later, holding the dog in his arms. "Shiny, you have thirty seconds to finish-"

"Done!" Click cried producing a much smaller and rather cheap-looking breathing apparatus. He handed it to Bacta who did a quick look over. Click started to explain how it worked but didn't get very far. Bacta was already telling his fellow medics to fill the tank halfway and slipping the mask over the dog.

Click suddenly found himself being pushed back outside by Buzzer, who only looked slightly sorry for it.

Commander Cody grabbed Click by the shoulders. "How's the General?"

Click recalled Bacta's chest piece covered in blood and the way everyone was frantically running around. He swallowed down any bile left in his mouth and forced a smile. "I think he'll be fine."

* * *

It was another twenty-four hours before Cody received the official report. The good news: the General was going to live. The bad news: he was confined to the medical bay for the next week, most of it spent in some form of bacta and a little bit of Force healing.

And Bacta was insistent on no visitors. Whatsoever. General Skywalker made the mistake of entering the room. He was chased out by Bacta himself, who was wielding a scalpel in one hand and a sedative shot in the other. An hour later, Cody found himself somehow sitting next to said General and Captain Rex, who looked equally confused about how they got there. Bacta was standing in front of the three of them, his angry medic face on and he proceeded to lecture for the following two hours on safety.

If Cody hadn't been so worried about his General, he might have found the situation amusing. A medic, still painted in 616th red and gray, pacing back and forth as he proceeded to shred his vocal cords yelling at a Jedi and two clone troopers, all who clearly outranked him, and wasn't giving a kriff.

Unfortunately, Waxer did find it amusing, going so far as to sneak a camera in the room, record part of the session, and then proceeded to play it on a loop in the mess.

Waxer found himself assigned to clean-up duty for the next full cycle, but he had no regrets. Especially because Cody had failed to find the only copy of the lecture, safely hidden with a little help from Tile. (It was in Tile's knitting supplies and there it remained as far as anyone ever knew.)

Within a few short weeks, Obi-Wan was back to his… barking self. Of course, it wasn't exactly the same because Bacta had begun to leave a medic with the dog at all times. After all, the Jedi Master Kenobi wasn't exactly known for his patience in recovery. Imagine how much worse it was when he was a small, furry, ball of fluff.

It went about as well as you think.

* * *

**Who loves Bacta? I do!**

**Also, I just got Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. BD-1 is my new favorite droid and must be protected at all costs.**

**Also, no spoilers for The Mandalorian either. I've only seen up to Chapter 3... Marathoning with some friends in two weeks so, hooray! This has just been a busy time for all of us, hasn't it? Isn't it exciting!?**

**Please review and I am open to opinions about things just no Spoilers. Go ahead and say you loved/hated something. May the Force be With You!**


	10. SQUIRREL!

**Short chapter today so I think I will also upload the next one later. Anyway, enjoy this definitely fluffy chapter.**

* * *

Cody thought he was prepared for anything when it came to his General. He had seen his recklessness, his caring side, his anger, his tactics, and he had watched him fight. The whole dog thing brought some surprises, like fetch and belly rubs and the short attention spans.

That last one he was still getting used to.

Case in point: the briefing meetings.

General Skywalker, with a little help from Obi-Wan, had figured out a format for the meetings to help Obi-Wan participate. Skywalker and Rex represented the 501st and Cody filled in for the 212th. Ahsoka stood in as the voice of Obi-Wan, who would project his words to her, which she would repeat. When Ahsoka had a suggestion herself, she would raise her hand and wait until she was acknowledged, before speaking her opinion. When she finished, she would lower her hand to indicate Obi-Wan was speaking again. This lead to some very strange meetings.

One time, Ahsoka had made a suggestion about changing a squad's position in a battle. Obi-Wan had disagreed about it and for the next few minutes, it looked as though Ahsoka was arguing with herself, raising her hand and then lowering it over and over again. General Skywalker didn't seem to find anything strange about the situation, chiming in every once in a while. That was how Cody had realized Ahsoka only needed to speak for the clones to hear. Anakin could hear his Master just fine. Rex and Cody would throw glances at one another, each clearly not used to the whole 'Jedi message system'.

The meetings had to be kept short or Obi-Wan's mind would wander to a completely different subject or just turn back into a puppy. Ahsoka would usually catch it before speaking but sometimes things slipped out. There were several instances of Obi-Wan suddenly doing something very dog-like and Ahsoka would burst out laughing. Other times, Ahsoka would be spouting off a sentence that would suddenly cut off and she'd sit there for several seconds then raise her hand and say, "Lost him. Hang on." Obi-Wan would return to his senses a few minutes later and Ahsoka would restart the sentence and the dog would finish the relay.

But there was one instance that Cody remembered vividly. Ahsoka, or Obi-Wan, had been discussing the importance of keeping their rearguard up. Ahsoka sounded extremely tired and very bored, stating what the dog was telling her almost monotone. "-without a strong defense, Anakin, we cannot squirrel."

General Skywalker burst out laughing. Cody blinked. Ahsoka stiffened and looked down where the dog used to be. Obi-Wan was long gone, having sprinted out the tent off to chase a squirrel. Or at least, that's what Cody assumed.

Skywalker managed to compose himself for a moment. "Snips… you didn't say it right!"

"Master, I said what he said. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yes, but-" Anakin took a deep breath, "You didn't say it the right way."

Cody and Rex shared a confused look. Anakin noticed and tried to clarify, but only burst into giggles again. It took another few minutes for him to calm down enough to explain. "Obi-Wan had been talking in his normal voice when he suddenly screamed, 'SQUIRREL!' then took off running!" The Jedi then began to laugh again, clutching his shaking sides.

Ahsoka joined shortly later and Rex chuckled lightly. Cody tried to imagine his General doing such a thing and found himself trying not to smile. Thank the Force he hadn't heard it with his own ears. He'd never be able to take the General serious ever again.

Obi-Wan returned to the tent a short time later. He glared at Anakin who burst into laughter again. Ahsoka managed to say, "Meeting dismissed," before joining her Master on the ground. Obi-Wan barked at Cody, who had learned by now it meant to follow him and the two left with as much dignity as they could muster.

Which was very little, when Cody really thought about it.

* * *

**I just had to do an "Up" moment in this fic. It was too good.**


	11. Top Dog

**I feel rather kind today so **

**TWO UPDATES IN A DAY.**

**Make sure you go back and read the previous chapter. You get two as a late Christmas/Happy New Year gift of sorts. Hope y'all enjoy it!**

* * *

It had been almost two months since Obi-Wan had been turned into a puppy.

Two long months of barks, howls, chasing squirrels, bathtimes, nap times, whines, and dog scratches. Of Jedi translators and learning when Obi-Wan was the General and when he was a dog. There were plenty of signs that were quite easy to distinguish.

When General Kenobi was fully focused, he walked with a purpose and was well behaved. He would sit still and watch his men talk to one another. In some cases, the men were able to ask 'yes' or 'no' questions to him in which Obi-Wan would bark once (yes) or twice (no). In the beginning, these times were far and few between. But as time had passed, the Jedi had learned how to master his short attention spans and dog urges to the point that he was himself most of the day.

"Puppy-Wan" or "General Kanine" would never sit still, wanting to play fetch or be picked up and held. He'd run around in circles, chasing small animals and jumping in mud piles. He'd sit at the foot of tables and whine for table scraps (which the men would freely give despite Cody's protests) and do tricks for treats.

As such, Cody and the men had learned how to 'understand' what Obi-Wan wanted, either dog or general. And they had learned quickly that just because the General was a dog, did not mean he wasn't a General.

* * *

Commander Cody and Captain Wooley stood at the head of the briefing table on the deck of _The Negotiator._ A hologram of General Skywalker, Commander Tano, and Captain Rex was also present. _The Resolution_ flew in hyperspace just ahead of them and they were fast approaching their destination.

General Skywalker was giving the briefing when General Kenobi walked in. He came in quietly and made no noise, approached the table and gently nudged Cody's leg. The Commander glanced down before obediently bending down and picking the dog up and placing him on the holo-table.

"_Nice of you to join us, Master."_ General Skywalker smiled.

General Kenobi stifled up and made a soft growling noise at his old Padawan, who quickly went back to business. "_Right then. The Separatist barricade has several ships we need to draw out before our reinforcements can arrive."_

Commander Cody pulled up the map of the battle and began to run through the plan. "The 501st and 212th fighters will launch a combined assault on the main ship. Our goal is to pierce its defenses before leaving it adrift. The Separatist General is a very 'hands-on' fighter. We're hoping when we take out the command ship, he'll push his other ships forward in range. Then our reinforcements will arrive."

Commander Tano frowned, "_That's a big risk with the men. Is there any way we could draw him out without the risk?"_

"_None we can see, Commander."_ Captain Rex shook his head sadly. "_We are ordering the men to keep careful watch of one another. General Skywalker will be flying with them, but break off in an attempt to draw some enemy fighters away from our men. It's going to be close, but we have to try."_

Obi-Wan was sitting still (for once), his eyes locked on the battle plan. He tilted his head slightly to the left and Cody thought he saw a flash of inspiration in the dog's eyes. He barked sharply, drawing everyone's attention.

"_Yes, Master Kenobi?" _Ahsoka's hologram form flickered as she crossed her arms.

The dog crouched down onto his stomach as if about to pounce. He then thumped his tail twice and scratched himself behind the ear. Cody raised an eyebrow. "I'm not so sure, General. That might make the situation-"

"_Woah, hang on."_ Anakin held up his hands. "_Time out for a second. You understood __**that?" **_Cody and Wooley exchanged a look before the captain responded, "You get used to it." Obi-Wan growled then let out a high pitched bark.

Cody nodded, "Right, General. Back on task. As I was saying, I don't think that is a good idea." Obi-Wan spun around once, as if chasing his tail, then stopped when he was facing Cody.

Cody pinched his nose, "Yes, it can provide a distraction, but it would also give away your current… state."

Anakin raised his hand. "_Can someone tell me what's going on?" _Obi-Wan ignored his old padawan and continued his 'conversation' with his Commander by thumping his tail once and then growling softly.

"General, it is unwise to give this kind of information to the enemy. If you were not already a target, you would certainly be now."

The dog barked twice then wagged his tail playfully, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Cody's expression changed to one of almost glee. "Oh…." Wooley smiled and chuckled to himself, "Waxer would approve, General."

"_Approve of what?!" _Anakin stamped his foot clearly annoyed.

Cody and Wooley exchanged a look. "Sir, the General has a plan. Get your fighters ready to launch. We'll have someone signal you when we're ready."

Anakin and Ahsoka shared a confused look. "_Wait, what-"_

Obi-Wan pressed the end call button with his paw before barking at everyone in the command center. All clones immediately began to move into their stations, activating coms and readying the troops for the incoming battle.

* * *

General Kly of the Separatist Army was prepared for many things. Republic battleships, Republic clones, Republic tactics, and yes, Republic tricks.

And he was prepared when two Republic battleships came out of hyperspace in attack position. He had been warned well in advance about this particular Republic move against his barricade. The hail from the first ship was also no surprise and he accepted the call with little concern.

He was a little confused when he found himself facing two clones instead of a Jedi. But it was of little concern and he remained stoic. "Are you ready to surrender, clones?" He asked dryly.

The first clone removed his helmet, revealing a large scar on the side of his face and an almost relieved expression. "_Oh __**Force**__, yes."_

General Kly was unable to hide the flash of shock that crossed his face but quickly recovered. "You are?" He asked sarcastically.

The clone next to him nodded, almost eagerly. "_Oh, yes sir. Please, we want to surrender! Just get us off this ship!"_

It was then, Kly noticed the loud alarms in the background of the call and several loud voices over the intercom informing of many, many issues. But looking out his window, the Republic ship appeared in top condition. Sensing a trap, he glared at the clones, "Your vessel appears in good condition. I see no signs of maintenance-"

"_It's not maintenance, it's our General!"_ The scarred clone interrupted. "_I mean, I am trained for many situations under the Republic but this… __**this**_ _is not one of them."_

Now Kly was even more confused, "Your Jedi is killing you?"

"_No, sir. But he might as well be."_ The second clone in the back stated sternly. "_It happened in hyperspace and… well, we're a little lost on what to do. Our allies think we're playing a practical joke, so I have no doubt that they will be launching an attack."_

Sure enough, the second ship appeared to have just launched several small fighters. General Kly quickly motioned for the droids to send out fighters to intercept before turning his attention back to the holo-call. "What happened to your General?"

"_Well…"_ The clone rubbed the back of his head. "_He somehow-"_

A dog's face suddenly sprang up in holo, covering the clones. It licked the projection, barking loudly and then jumped down. Immediately, the still helmeted clone dove at the dog, yelling something about being a bad dog. The other clone turned to someone off-screen and yelled, "_How the kriff did General Kenobi get in here?"_

"_Commander, apparently he can still use the Force because our air ducts were forced open."_

"_WHAT?"_

Kly just stared at the scene as the dog seemed to jump very high in the air, straight at the Clone Commander's face. The dog licked at him and the Commander basically screamed and fell out of view. The other clone appeared, yelling at someone to catch the puppy dog as he chased it off his commanding officer.

Returning to the call, the Commander looked almost frantic, "_Just please don't shoot at us! We surrender! We're moving out of the fight right now. Just heading downward. Go ahead and watch us or send sentries, we don't care!"_

General Kly started to ask a question but was interrupted by a particularly loud alarm from the Republic ship. The clone Commander turned away, yelling orders.

"_Waxer and Boil, get that fire put out in hanger 2! Someone get me Bacta on the comlinks and I want Checkered Light to report here in the next thirty seconds. We need to get that puppy under control before this ship blows up!"_

"_Yes, sir!"_

The dog appeared out of nowhere again and the call ended abruptly with one last, "_BAD DOG! SIT DOWN GEN-!"_

Kly stared at empty space for a moment before looking over to the Republic ships. The small fighters were already engaged and the lead ship was moving in a downward position. According to their scanners, there were no fighters being launched from it.

Uh… yeah, he had no idea what to do with any of this.

His thoughts were interrupted by a Jedi fighter firing down on his command center. He may not know how to handle a holo call like that, but he did know how to handle a single Command ship. "Full attack formation. Let's make quick of this ship before dealing with… whatever the kriff that was."

"_Roger, roger."_

* * *

Commander Cody and General Kenobi watched through the window as the Separatist command ship pulled away from the barricade, along with a few battlecruisers.

Obi-Wan barked, jumping down from the window and then rolled over, stopping on his stomach.

"You heard the General," Cody nodded to his brother's at the controls, "Time to help the 501st. Give the order."

Stations lit up and coms sparked to life as voices began to come and go at a steady pace.

"All fighters prepare to launch!"

"Shields raised to full power!"

"Blasters charged and ready!"

"All troops report to their stations!"

Cody stood at the helm, beside a very pleased looking dog. Whenever Obi-Wan did something, Cody would verbalize the order. They were short, simple, and to the point. The ship came to order in a matter of moments.

Just another mission for the 212th.

* * *

Down in the ship hanger, men ran to and fro. Mechanics were doing the final inspections on the fighters as the pilots were dismissed from their briefing. Droids beeped and bopped around, doing their various tasks and trying to keep away from everyone's feet. The intercoms above crackled to life warning of the first squad to take off in two minutes.

One clone broke away from his fellow pilots. He crossed the hanger and exited into the nearby hall, eyes searching quickly. The only clones around were half of the newer recruits, Checkered Squad. "Hey, shinies!"

The group froze, turning around a little confused. Marsh spoke up, "We already have our orders… uh…"

"Oddball," the pilot responded. "And I don't need all of you. Which one of you is trained as a pilot?"

Everyone turned to Cliff, who gave a wave. "Guilty as charged."

"Suit up. Blue squad is short a pilot since Tailspin is in the infirmary." Oddball started back to the hanger. "You have three minutes."

Cliff didn't move his feet for a second, running his hands through his red hair. He took a small step away from the group, turning around to face them. A sloppy salute was given to his batchmates as a grin slowly spread across his face, "Wish me luck!"

"Go blast some clanckers for us!" Tile called, waving eagerly.

Dodge gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Buzzer just shook his head, "Don't jump out of your plane because of a dare! And don't get blown up! I can't fix that."

"Just follow orders and you'll be fine," Marsh waved. "Don't do anything stupid. You still owe me a sparring match."

"I could say the same to all of you!" Cliff grinned. "See you all when I get back!"

* * *

**Please review and comment! Only three more chapters left of this insane story and I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on this... whatever it is. (I want to say Crack but... it doesn't feel like crack all the time so maybe it's a hybrid of some kind?) I hope you all had a great New Year and are excited for 2020!**

**May the Force be With You!**


	12. Dog-gone

**So... I've got good news and I've got bad news.**

**The good news is: look at how long this chapter is! Hooray! Long update!**

**Bad news: Remember when Commander Pillow was all fluff and then it suddenly turned into angst? *****laughs nervously* Yeah...**

**So this is kind of part two to the last chapter. Let's go to war.**

* * *

Cliff loved space. Or at least, he thought he would if space wasn't currently filled with vulture droids trying to kill him.

"_Blue 7 on your right!"_

Cliff dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the blaster fire that rained down. "Thanks, Burrow!"

"_Just part of the job, kid."_

"_Cut the chatter, Blue 3 and Blue 7. We still got a ways to go."_

Cliff smirked, pulling back into formation. "Copy that, Blue Leader."

The 212th had been careful to enter the battle from the general area the 501st was launching. It was a small attempt to keep their charade alive for a little longer, but it looked like their time had run out. Several vulture droids broke away from the group, heading to _The Negotiator._

Said command ship moved forward, laying down heavy fire at the approaching droids and in the direction of the Separatist command ship. It was out of range, but given the current course, The Negotiator would close the gap quickly.

"_Alright Blue squad, follow me!"_ the radio crackled to life. "_We've got to break through or we're going to have a short flight!"_

Cliff adjusted his flight pattern and lifted up, following Blue leader up to _The Resolution_.

"_Nice of you boys to join the party!"_ A Jedi starfighter flew over the squad, blasting away at a few straggling Vultures.

"_Hope you left some for us, General Skywalker,"_ someone replied on the radio.

"_Only if you can keep up! Follow me!"_ General Skywalker dove.

"_You heard the General, boys!"_

Cliff smirked under his flight helmet, the butterflies in his stomach increasing. This was his favorite part of flying. The feeling you got as you leaped and shot through the air. His brothers always said he was an adrenaline junkie.

Eh, he could've turned out worse. He could've been boring.

* * *

"You wanted to see us, Commander?" Marsh asked, his batchmates (minus Cliff) standing at attention behind him.

Cody motioned at the nearby computer. "Tile, I need you on the main coms for the main orders. So far, our communications have been inside the ship. The moment we launch, we'll be transmitting out. Which means, the command ship can intercept it."

Obi-Wan barked sharply from the floor, wagging his tail and growling three times.

"Exactly," Cody nodded, "More confusion means the more the command ship comes out of its defensive line. So we need your…special code."

Tile grinned. "Yes, sir!" He hurried to his station, beaming with excitement. He flicked the switches to the correct position and pulled his com on. "All clubs stand by for ration bars!"

Cody didn't move for a moment, choosing to just stare at the shiny. He shook his head, turning back to the remaining members of the Checkered squad. "You three are assigned to Sector A in case there is a breach. Waxer and Boil are waiting for your check-in so it would be best to get moving"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Light Squad was bored. They had already checked in with Boil at their station and were now waiting for…

Well, now they were just waiting.

Yes, there had been some excitement when Checkered showed up (and some chatter about the two missing batchmates), and there had been plenty of laughs when Tile took over the main com unit.

But now a hush had fallen over the squads, listening to any chatter on the coms that informed them of the battle raging on. According to what they could see, it appeared that they were winning. General Skywalker was leading the attack, successfully taking down most of the enemy's defenses.

Trigger and Soft Shot were messing around with their blasters (not recklessly, more like cleaning them), Rift and Zee were talking in Mando'a about something, while Dodge, Click, and Buzzer made some bets on how well Cliff was doing in the air.

Marsh stood at attention, waiting for something. Anything. The tension before a battle always made him nervous. Stiff. And the idea of just sitting on the ship doing… well, nothing, did not help his nerves.

Marsh's thoughts were suddenly thrown aside. Literally. The ship lurched to the right. Hard. Most of the clones were knocked to the ground, quickly scrambling for weapons. Over the radio, someone said something about a breach in Sector B.

Correction: a boarding ship.

Waxer and Boil started yelling orders at everyone. Defensive lines formed, guns loaded and readied, all eyes turning towards the blast doors of Sector B. Marsh could hear blaster fire already firing and brothers screaming orders.

Just as sudden as the lurch, the doors slid open halfway, brothers pouring out of the corridor, shooting at the unseen enemy. Some dragged injured brothers to safety, trying to stay behind the blast doors. Waxer yelled at the boys to get clear and Boil ordered everyone to stand by to fire.

Trapper sprinted through the door into Sector A with a few troopers, throwing himself against the ground and covered his head. He screamed for someone to close the doors and then a giant explosion came from behind him.

Marsh found himself clinging to the window ledge as the air seemed to get sucked out of his lungs and out the door. It only lasted a few seconds before the doors slammed shut, but it felt like an eternity to Marsh.

Everyone pushed themselves to their feet, checking around for who was still in the room. Marsh felt a stab of relief at the sight of all of his squad. Light Squad also appeared to be whole, with Soft Shot getting a pat on the back from Waxer for closing the door so quickly.

Tile's voice came over the com to Marsh, "_You guys okay?"_

Marsh smiled, "Yeah, Ti. We're fine. Can't say the same for those clankers who thought it was a good idea to board."

"_Oh, thank the Force. I'm headed your way with General Kenobi. Our cover is blown so Cody is taking over the command bridge. General Kenobi wants to join the party."_

Marsh couldn't help but smile. "Well, the General is always welcome."

"_Then I guess I'm not welcome."_

"Tile."

"_Just joking. See you in a minute."_

Marsh rolled his eyes, feeling the adrenaline start to leave his body. He shook himself awake, checking his weapon. Just because they survived a wave did not mean the battle was over.

Boil was trying to say as much when Marsh found himself on the ground again as someone screamed over the intercom, "_BRACE!"_

Little late, Marsh thought to himself. He didn't have time to complain though because it was like the ship around him exploded. Pipes cracked, air hissing. The giant black spike that pierced into the bay drew everyone's attention and blasters. The contraption opened up, revealing the boarding party. Super Battle Droids.

Waxer yelled to open fire and Marsh found himself shooting for his life. The droids opened fired and someone to Marsh's left went down with a scream. Marsh ducked down behind a random crate, a silent prayer in his heart sent to whoever was listening. Dodge appeared beside him, a blaster in one hand and-

"What the kriff, Dodge?" Marsh growled, "What are you going to do with a pipe cutter?"

Dodge shrugged. In other words, "_Don't know, but why not?"_

"Where did you even get that?" Marsh demanded.

Before the Dodge could answer their hiding place was discovered by an especially nasty looking droid. Dodge sprung to his feet, firing at the droid's head and diving over the crate. Marsh fired quickly at the glowing spot on the droid's chest, then rolled to avoid gunfire. He came to a halt on his stomach, shooting up at the droid. Dodge suddenly appeared on the droid's back, the pipe cutter fired up with a very small red flame. He shoved it in the back of the droid's neck, then pushed off the back, shooting downward.

And then there was no droid left.

Marsh's eyes widened at the explosion.

Dodge looked just as surprised, disappearing behind enemy lines and the fireball that took out at least two other battle droids. Marsh sprung to his feet, shouting for Dodge and shooting at any droid around him. The smoke was too heavy to see anything on the other side.

Buzzer appeared out of nowhere beside him, shouting over the blaster fire, "WHAT THE KRIFF? DOES HE WANT TO DIE?"

"Shut up, Buzz!" Marsh pulled out a grenade and chucked it as far as he could. "DODGE!"

The grenade took down another two droids but it was obvious that they couldn't hold out. Boil yelled the order to fall back and Marsh found himself now screaming for Dodge to make himself known. Buzzer was in a similar state, however, he was more angry yelling about the stupidity of his batchmate.

Waxer appeared, pulling the two back away from the oncoming enemy, laying down covering fire. "Move shinies!"

"DODGE!" Marsh yelled again, feeling panic threaten to overtake him. He was the older brother. He was supposed to protect his little brothers. Not… not…

A ball of brown fur ran through Marsh's legs, straight into the firefight. Tile appeared behind Marsh's right shoulder, armed with a kriffin' Z-6. He opened fire blasting down the front six droids. "Head to the door!"

Marsh almost shot himself. He had to focus on his other brothers right now. Not on… not on…

The entire front line of droids was suddenly encased in a white cloud. Marsh yanked Buzzer and Tile back into the next room, clear of the mystery gas. Safety alarms blared somewhere and Waxer yelled at the shinies to move their legs.

And Marsh was about to when the cloud disappeared, leaving a frozen front line of droids. He frowned, very confused. Waxer ordered Soft Shot to start closing the blaster doors to Sector A, then yelled at wherever the heck General Kenobi was to get his little dog self into the right room.

The clones retreated away from the door as the droids began their advance again, chipping down their frozen comrades. Waxer ordered the doors closed and every clone watched tensely for General Kenobi.

Marsh wasn't sure he expected, but he did not expect that moments before the door closed Dodge would come _swinging_ through it on a loose cable, the dog in his hands.

The blaster doors slammed shut and Dodge went rolling on the ground, protecting the dog against his chest and arms. General Kenobi gave a slobbery thanks before sprinting away to check on… whatever he could check on.

Marsh, Buzzer, and Tile sprinted over to Dodge. Buzzer yanked the clone to his feet, proceeding to scream in his face about the stupidity of his brain. Marsh quickly pulled the two apart, hugging Dodge tightly. "You _brilliant idiot."_

Dodge shook his head, pushing him away and allowing Tile to cling to him. "I was sent flying and hit an enemy droid. It hurt, but nothing too serious. But I decided to play dead and wait for the wave to pass over… or at least I was until a droid stepped on my arm."

Buzzer stiffened, yanking Tile away and going into full-blown medic mode. "You BROKE your arm. And you SWUNG ON A CABLE?"

Dodge winced as Buzzer poked at his injured arm. "My armor acted as a brace… kind of. Anyway, I had to kind of dodge everything after that. I remembered the coolant pipe for the engine was in the ceiling and thought, why not?"

"You climbed into the ceiling?" Marsh demanded.

Dodge shook his head. "No. The General did. I only made it half-way up the scaffolding. Then he got the wire and met me down there. Then we jumped."

"You froze the droids."

"I couldn't really think of anything else to do. And it was only a few. The pipe only had so much and the General can only bend so much metal."

Marsh felt like punching his brother in the face. He chose to order Buzzer to take him to the medical bay instead. Bacta's lecturing would be enough punishment.

Unfortunately, the droids decided to breach the doors at that point. And it was only then Marsh realized he did something stupid. He put his guard down. Reunions were not for the battlefield. They were for after.

Tile hoisted his Z-6 (okay, where the kriff did he get that thing?) and started firing. Marsh hoisted his weapon and then the world around him seemed to go weightless, flashing red than gray.

The next thing he registered was someone yelling his name. Tile's face came into focus only seconds later, the clone clearly concerned. He looked relieved, shouting something that Marsh couldn't quite understand, then shooting at something he couldn't see. Someone hoisted Marsh to his feet-

Buzzer. He said something, motioning towards something then vanishing in that direction. Dodge appeared, a gun in his good arm. He yelled something at Tile, shooting at the oncoming droids, but noise was still not working.

All noise except one.

It was high pitched, full of pain. Marsh frowned, trying to find the source. Something told him to turn around away from the droids- the thing he was definitely not supposed to do. But still, he turned and scanned, ignoring the red that zipped past his head and the muffled shouts and screams of those around him.

The noise grew louder and Marsh's eyes fell on-

_Kriff._

Marsh sprinted away from his batchmates, much to their confusion. Tile yelled at Marsh, but his brother did not stop until he reached the large chunk of the ship that had fallen to the ground. Marsh bent down next to it, apparently talking to something, then attempting to move the giant piece of metal, at least ten times larger than him.

Another fall back was ordered and the three remaining Checkered Squad members fell back to their brother.

"Marsh! We have to go!"

"We can't leave the General!" Marsh yelled, trying to hoist the piece again. A small, sharp bark was heard inside the scrap and any thought of retreat was forgotten. Tile turned back to the advancing arming and opened fire. Buzzer and Dodge joined Marsh, trying to lift something much too heavy for them as a dog barked from within.

Marsh pushed, pulled, and yanked to no avail. "General! Push up!"

Two barks echoed out. Aka, "_I am!"_

"Tile!" Marsh yelled. "Help!"

The clone appeared beside him, the four now pulling up, praying the droids' fire was as bad as it seemed. Marsh let out a scream, pulling up with all his might-

-and felt the chunk move. It wasn't a lot, but enough. The dog came sprinting out and barked his thanks to the shinies, pointing to the retreating party and taking off running. Marsh felt a wave of relief and the four turned to follow-

-only to run straight into a thermal grenade from the enemy only seconds from detonating.

Marsh screamed to duck for cover, though he saw no cover available in the blast area. Tile yelled for the dog, but Marsh knew even a Jedi had its limits.

Life is a funny thing. One minute you can be happy, only to cry the next. Seconds can tick by slowly or can fly. And some days you find yourself sitting on the wrong end of the grenade.

For Marsh, the world seemed to slow down. His thoughts moved faster than he thought possible.

Cliff wasn't here. There was some relief in that thought. He hadn't failed someone in his batch. The four of them thought this fight would be easy for them, hard for him. Turned out, Cliff was the smart one of the group.

Would he have time to apologize to his batchmates? No, there would be no inspiring final words for any of them. Even if they did survive the initial blast, they would be too injured to run. And no one would risk the safety of the entire ship for the lives of four little shinies. That wasn't how war worked.

At least they had rescued their General. That was what mattered. Clones were meant to protect their Jedi until the end. And they did just that. Their sacrifice meant something to the Republic. The safety of a Jedi, dog or not. And not just any Jedi, but General Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the greatest Jedi of the order, a member of the High Council.

Marsh had heard of lives flashing before someone before they die. He didn't experience that exactly. More like fond memories of his batchmates. Tile and his scarves, Dodge and his strange weapons, Buzzer and his overprotectiveness, and Cliff and his crazy stunts.

Failing them stung deep.

Only…

_He hadn't failed them yet._

The few seconds were almost up. Marsh moved instinctively, sliding on the ground, grabbing the detonator and tucking it in between his chest and the ground. He had time to scream, "_Run!" _before pain flared through his body and then everything went black.

Marsh had heard nightmare stories about shiny squads being killed in a single mission. He had heard tales of squads only surviving a day on the battlefield. Legends of squads who had survived the entire war so far.

His squad wasn't that like any of those. But at least they were alive.

That was more than he could say for himself.

* * *

Tile saw red.

Don't get him wrong, he also saw the gray and gold droids that were advancing and his brother's white armor that was getting smaller. He also saw the ball of brown fur that was running back towards them, a backpack on his back.

Buzzer was pushing Dodge and Tile towards the blast doors, his screams mixed with tears; rage mixed with sorrow. Dodge was limping. Some shrapnel had buried into his leg, but he wasn't stopping.

But Tile also saw red. And he couldn't seem to get it off his helmet no matter how hard he wiped at it. He wasn't sure he wanted it off. But he did know one thing.

He wanted to see those monsters burn.

General Kanine dropped his present at the feet of Tile. The clone reached in, activated one of the twenty thermal detonators in the pack, placed it back in the pack, then spun around, throwing it as hard as he could at the advancing droids.

The dog barked loudly and the pack flew farther than Tile thought possible. Then he turned and did the last thing Marsh told him to do.

_He __**ran**__._

* * *

Waxer had seen things in this war.

Droid stupidity? He stopped laughing at it a while ago.

Jedi tricks? At this point, when things start flying he doesn't even bat an eye.

A General being turned into a dog? Yesterday's news.

Still, there were somethings that never ceased to amaze him. And there were things that never ceased to cut deep.

The moment that backpack exploded, Waxer hit the ground, clinging for dear life. The blast doors closed only moments later, with three no-more shinies collapsed against it. Waxer struggled to his feet, his battle experience kicking in. Explosions that big were never good for anyone.

Buzzer was holding Dodge's right leg, whose armor was slowly turning red. Dodge himself was hugging his clearly broken arm against his chest. Dodge's face was pale and looked like he was about to pass out.

Bacta, whose red and gray paint finally appeared to blend in with the orange a lot better, appeared at Buzzer's side, yelling for someone to bring a stretcher. They would be fine.

It was the final clone that grabbed Waxer's attention.

Ti had ripped his helmet off, throwing it on the ground. He was gasping for air, tears streaming down his face. His cries were more sobs, but they were silent. No wailing, moaning or screaming, just gasps.

Waxer limped over to the boy, dropping next to him on the ground. He held out his arms in a silent invitation. Tile leaned into the hug, his tears mixing with the dripping red on his armor.

There were a lot of things Waxer had seen in this war. Many he had gotten used to. But one sight that never ceased to cut him deep was the sight of a shiny becoming dull.

* * *

The battle was over. If you asked any tactician or read any official report, you would say it went well. Casualties were less than projected, few ships lost, good leadership in the attack, and no puppy was killed.

But there was always a part of Cody's heart that cracked when he lost a man. Every battle added to the number, each crack leaving an empty space in the lines. He had been lucky with the shinies so far. He shouldn't have been surprised.

And yet, looking down at Marsh's name on the list of casualties, there was this feeling of shock that couldn't seem to leave him. There wasn't a body to bury, not a rarity, but something that was hard for any batchmate. Cody knew that pain more than he'd care to admit.

And Cody couldn't help but say a prayer to whoever was listening that Marsh was happy wherever he was.

It was all he could do at this point.

* * *

Cliff came into the squad barracks at a full sprint, the largest grin on his face. "Guys! Oddball was so impressed by my flying he wants me to join the Blue Squad full time!" He bowed deeply, expecting applause or some form of congratulations.

There was only silence.

He frowned, coming back to a standing position. Eyes cast around the room, taking in his brothers. Dodge was sitting on his bed, his blaster lying across his knees. One arm was in a sling, the other was gripping the weapon like a lifeline, jaw clenched, eyes fixed on the floor. Buzzer was sitting across from him, wrapping and unwrapping a bandage around his hand. He said nothing, just watched the scrap of fabric grow longer and shorter. Tile was sitting on Marsh's bunk, his legs pulled up into his chest and head buried.

Cliff looked around, his elation slowly sinking away. "Where's Marsh?"

No one looked at him.

His mouth went dry. Cliff dropped to his knees. His hands were shaking and he could feel his stomach twist unpleasantly. This wasn't flying. This was crashing in a ball of fire.

Buzzer finally spoke, his voice soft but angry, "_There was __**nothing**_ _**we could do**_."

Cliff swallowed. "_...Oh,_ _**Force."**_

* * *

Checkered Light was sitting in the barracks, very silent. In the back corner, Dodge was leaning against the wall, his lips sealed. Bacta had fixed him up the best he could, which was surprisingly good. His arm was in a sling and would be for at least another day, but his leg was almost healed, with a little help from some bacta (the medical solvent, not the clone). But he lingered away from his brothers, happy with watching.

As a scout, he preferred observation rather than interaction. The fewer people (or droids) noticed you, the better off you were. Stealth, tallgrass, high vantage points, weirdly shaped rocks, and random circumstances that threw the enemy off were all familiar friends of his. Even as a cadet he tended to spend much of his time in silence, watching those around him. Most of his brothers thought he just hated social interaction, dodging them at every opportunity. Hence his name: Dodge (that and he was the best at dodgeball in his age group).

But to him, the observation process was the best way to learn. Watching a target's (or in most cases, a brother's) ticks, habits, and words could teach you more than a "social interaction" (or firefight, in the case of droids).

For instance:

Seven brothers were huddled around the Sabac table today; Cliff, Buzzer, Soft Shot, Trigger, Zee, Click, and Rift.

The straggler, Tile, was sitting in a chair near the table, however, his seat was turned away from the main game. Tile's main sightline was focused on Marsh's bed. His knitting needles were clicking away at a slower speed than normal and paused more often as mistakes were pulled out.

Of the seven, five were currently engaged in the card game. Soft Shot, the Sabacc master, had folded first. It was the third time in a row and the thirteenth time tonight. There had been no regular comment on Trigger's obvious attempts to read his cards.

Trigger himself had stopped "trying" after the second round all on his own accord, relying on his rudimentary bluffing skills. He was currently in second with five hundred three imaginary credits in his pocket.

Click had folded three turns after Soft Shot. His hands were hanging down by his sides doing absolutely nothing. The only movement from him was his eyes flicking back and forth between the players. His toolkit was absent from the quarters entirely.

Zee looked as he normally did. Stoic and stiff with little to no interest in the game. Only an astute observer would note the slightly more clenched jaw and hands. Under the table, Zee's leg bounced up and down ever so slightly. It had been increasing in motion for the past fifteen minutes, indicating a want to leave the room entirely. Sure enough, the next round Zee folded stood up straightly and left the room without so much of a goodbye grunt.

Rift had only spoken in Basic the entire game. There was no usual Mando'a curses, Twi'lek exclamations, or Huttese insults. He was currently leading with five hundred thirty-seven credits.

Buzzer wasn't even trying to pay attention. He just drew and discarded in succession, but never folded. As such, he was in debt a ridiculous amount of imaginary credits. Any common sense from his medical training just flew out the window. No one commented on the disregard for "safety".

Cliff was humming to himself. As usual, he was woefully out of tune, hitting more flats than sharps. Yet, no one complained or asked him to stop, for once in the history of Cliff's guitar solos. If anything, the flat tones painted the scene perfectly. Out of sync.

The Sabac deck was sloppy. Cards stuck out in every direction. Shuffling was a sloppy tossing of the deck on the table, swishing the cards around for a minute or so before the "deck" was reformed into a pound of cards. You couldn't tell the discard from the draw and no one really cared.

Dodge allowed a small smile to flick up, but only for a moment. Marsh would have been yelling at everyone about the need for organization and making sure each card aligned perfectly with its neighbor. He would have neatly shuffled and dealt with precision and quickness matched only by Trigger on a rattling gun.

Losing brothers was part of the war. Dodge knew that. He and all his brothers were trained to deal with it. It wouldn't break them. He knew that.

But that didn't mean it didn't _hurt_.

Marsh had always been that annoying older brother. He took his responsibilities as their "leader" seriously when they were cadets. But he had been the first who saw Dodge's silent streak as a gift, not an annoying quirk. Because when you keep your ear to the ground, you learn things. Some things people don't want you to necessarily know.

Like when one of the bounty hunters who was supposed to be training his brothers had been a little too… intense in his "training". A quick ambush was planned and said bounty hunter found himself chased off the premises by a small army of clone cadets. Or the time a particularly nasty Kaminin had ordered a particular cadet who was not exactly up to standard to be sent to rehabilitation. A quick message to Jedi Master Shaak Ti delayed the order long enough for it to be mysteriously redacted.

Dodge took a deep breath to steady his thoughts. A twitch under the table drew his attention back to the present.

General Kenobi had been under the table for the past hour. He'd walked in unannounced a few hours ago and was almost immediately scooped up by Tile. There he had remained for almost an hour until Tile released him. The General had then done a quick brush against Dodge's leg before retreating out of sight. Periodically, the dog had shifted his position but remained still for the most part. His ears were drooped more than usual and there had been no attempt to play.

Dodge registered the noise of the door opening and the loud "Shiny!" that was growled at a ferocity only associated with the head medic.

Bacta looked annoyed as usual. What was unusual was the orange paint that now decorated his armor. Someone must have finally convinced him to paint over his old colors (Dodge didn't even want to think about how long that must have taken). A slight shimmer indicated the paint wasn't quite dry yet. He marched in, lugging a bucket of orange paint in his right hand and holding a thin paintbrush in his left.

Everyone in the room stopped and watched in confusion as the medic came to a halt at the Sabacc table. The dog below twitched, hurrying to the other side of the table and under Trigger's chair. However, the General did not appear to be the target today.

The bucket of paint was dropped at Buzzer's feet and the paintbrush unceremoniously plopped into his lap. Bacta turned around, facing away from the clearly confused clone. "I can't get the back properly-and no, I'm not taking it off. I have a shift in fifteen minutes." He looked at the holo clock, his frown growing. "Now paint over the letters- and then I need you to add some."

Buzzer looked confused but stepped away from the game. The brush was thin, requiring a reapply of paint after each letter. He carefully covered the few gray letters on the backplate of the armor in the orange of the 212th.

Sabacc was now forgotten as the room was entranced with the small flicks of the brush and Bacta's half mumbles to hurry the kriff up.

Dodge smirked to himself. Leave it to Bacta to pull everyone out of the sobering sorrow that had been present for the entire morning.

"Okay… done." Buzzer dipped the brush again, "Now what?"

Bacta rattled off several random letters the spelled… absolutely nothing.

And Force was he particular. "I don't want them near one another. They have to be spaced. No connections, no lines, no shapes, just… everywhere. Got it?"

"Yes, Bacta."

"Right. Now E… T… U… L… B… C… and D." Bacta paused, seeming to think something over. "Actually, give me the paintbrush."

Buzzer quickly finished his last letter before handing it over to the head medic. Bacta dipped the brush in, looking down at his orange dotted armor. His hand hovered for a moment over the blank upper leg on the left. Then the brush flicked, leaving a clear "_M"_ on the white surface. "There. Finished for now." He held the tool back to his assistant. "Put that back with the others."

Dodge watched as confused looks were exchanged with one another. A few words were silently mouthed at one another or signed in various gestures but the message was the same. Bacta was even crazier than they thought.

Buzzer was the only one with the courage to ask the question on everyone's mind "Uh… what's finished?"

"My armor. Keep up, shiny." Bacta motioned at the now orange marks that dotted his chest and arms. He tapped by the "_M"_ on his leg and Dodge swore he saw the usual angry scowl slid into something more… sad. Regretful. Then as quick as it came, it cleared leaving the familiar annoyed gaze. Bacta cleared his throat loudly. "Right. Now let me get something across to you shinies: a lot of your brothers are going to die in this kriffin' war. Brothers in this very room." He paused to let that sink in before continuing, "All you can do is push forward. Learn. Marsh wouldn't want you to beat yourselves up over something you can't change. So don't."

Dodge felt another smile pull at his mouth. More simply put then applied, Bacta. But he was right.

"Right," Bacta pointed at Buzzer, "You get to the med bay. I know for a fact that Oddball has been looking for Cliff and that maintenance could use Click for something that I don't understand. The rest of you, get down to a training room. We touch down in five hours, you might as well do something productive." Bacta marched to the door, calling over his shoulder, "Or you can continue to waste your day on imaginary credits that will do nothing to keep you alive on the field."

The door slid shut with a definitive 'swoosh'.

Dodge's eyes flicked back to his quiet brothers. The cards were laid flat on the table, no attempt to pick them up. No one was making eye contact, a mask of shame and sorrow upon each of them.

Well. Time to be the scout. Aka, breech into unknown territory and see what is ahead.

He got up from the wall and crossed the room to the table. A small smile graced his face and he asked a simple question. "Anyone up for dodgeball?"

Silence.

One, two, three…

A snort came from Buzzer, eyes rolling to the heavens. "Don't come to me to patch up any black eyes."

Tile popped up from his chair, "I call being the first captain!"

"I call second!" Trigger jumped to his feet. "And I'm taking Dodge."

"That's not fair, we're not even on the field! Besides, I called first captain."

"Tough luck."

"Not fair, Trigger!"

Said clone rubbed his chin, "Tell you what. You can get the General."

The dog barked up from the ground, his tail wagging furiously.

Tile hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "Deal."

Trigger grinned as he made a beeline for the door. "Last one there is Stinky the Hut!"

Any clone who was still sitting at that point practically tripped over one another and out the door in a desperate race to not earn such a title. It only took a few seconds for the room to clear of everyone… at least everyone who had taken off running.

* * *

Dodge remained at the table for a moment. He counted to thirty then walked out the door, stepping into the practically empty hallway.

Bacta was waiting, arms folded across his chest. "Not bad, shiny."

Dodge shrugged.

"You sure are chatty, aren't you?" the medic straightened up. "Which means you are going to keep your mouth shut. Right?"

Dodge smirked, "For now."

Bacta's angry glare kicked into high gear. "I can make your life miserable."

"And I can tell everyone you're a big softie," Dodge tapped one of the letters on Bacta's armor. "It's not like I have to go far for the proof."

Bacta's glare would have lit him on fire if that was possible. "You kriffin' little shiny."

Dodge's smirk grew. "Don't worry, Bacta. You're secret's safe with me… just remember that the next time I ask you for a favor."

Bacta gritted his teeth but managed to nod his acknowledgment before wandering off to take out his anger on someone who wasn't Dodge.

As the clone faded from view, Dodge chuckled to himself.

It wasn't his fault that he had good observation skills, nor was it his fault that he had a natural curiosity. And usually, clones enjoy sharing what any unique marks on their armor represent. They are generally accompanied by a story of heroism, luck, or sheer skill. A story that the clone loves to brag about and spread through the ranks.

Imagine Dodge's surprise when he asked Bacta what the letters meant on his armor. The story consists of a swift punch to the stomach and a scolding about minding your own business.

Well, Dodge had never been good about that. So he did what he did best: observe.

Bacta never talked about the letters to anyone. He never hinted, drew attention, or acknowledged them. But he treated them with… respect. After every battle, Dodge had watched the medic carefully check them and touch up any that were faded or messy. The helmet was especially taken well care of, with Bacta examining it every day. Closer observations revealed that a few particular letters were especially looked after. Touched up almost daily, in fact.

"_V" "N" "K" "E"_

A few "bribes" to the tech department (aka, his promise not to tell anyone about the secret candy stash they hid in the toolkit they were definitely not allowed to have) and Dodge managed to get a hold of Bacta's personal file where he learned some _very_ interesting information. Information Bacta probably wouldn't want to get out to the troops.

Like the fact that Bacta lost all his batchmates in the same battle. Or the fact that all four of them died from grievous injuries that no field medic could fix, no matter how hard they tried. Or that their chosen names started with "_V", "N", "K"_, and "_E"_.

It was a rather inspiring thing really. Every clone tried to blot out their number. They wanted to blot it out. Because a number was just that. A blur of digits no one cared about. Every brother fought for a name, fought to be remembered, fought to be more than just a trooper. An ARC, A Captain, A Commander. That was what every brother wanted. Except one.

And yet, the one clone who said, "Kriff the title" was the one clone who remembered the names of every brother he failed to save.

* * *

**Everyone, look at the cover of this story. Recognize my boy, Bacta? I've got more bad news for you! Waxer is on that armor. As is Obi-Wan when he faked his death (it's the only letter scribbled out/over). And guess who else is there? A few more of the shinies.**

**Whoops.**

**So I cried writing this... if I could go back and fix somethings I'd make Marsh stand out a bit more but... eh, I want to finish this. **

**Guess what? The tears aren't done yet! We have two chapters to go! The next one will be happy. I promise. **

**So... bye! *hides in a cell from the fruit being thrown at me***

**May the Force be With You!**


	13. Missing General (Again)

**Coming down to the wire, everyone! Hooray!**

* * *

Obi-Wan woke up under one of the clone's beds and immediately hit his head. He groaned and tried to reach up to rub the bruise but found himself unable to move due to constricted space.

He frowned. Had he had a sudden growth spurt overnight? He was only a puppy so it wasn't like he was a full-grown dog. But the underside of the bed was a lot closer to his nose than Obi-Wan remembered. And his dog bed that Tile had made with some help from Click was now strangely absent replaced by a painful lump in the small of his back.

Obi-Wan tried to turn over to crawl out from under but found his progress impeded by- _wait, was that his shoulder?_

And it was only then the Jedi realized he was back to his normal human self.

Now, under normal circumstances, he would have been thrilled. But being pinned under a clones bed was not necessarily the wake up he had in mind. It must have been very early in the morning as the lights were still dimmed in the barracks. He could hear someone (Cliff) snoring deeply and the sound of Tile shifting in his sleep came from above the bed.

No need to wake them. It was the first night the four of them had gone down with relative ease since Marsh died. Obi-Wan felt a stab of disappointment that he was never able to meet the shiny in person. He'd have to make it up to the rest of the clone's squad somehow.

But now, onto more pressing matters. Aka, the Jedi currently being pressed between the floor and a steel bed. Obi-Wan carefully began to shimmy sideways, careful not to move the bed too much. His lightsaber (which had somehow magically reappeared from before he had "dogified".) scratched against the floor, making someone in a different bunk mumble and turn. Obi-Wan froze and counted to thirty before continuing.

It took longer than it should have, but Obi-Wan had no desire to wake his troops. The war was becoming longer and harder. Better to let them sleep then bring them to reality. So he was ever so relieved when he found himself staring at the distant ceiling.

Out of habit he rolled over onto his stomach and got up on his hands and knees, ready to crawl-

-before realizing he had his feet and hands back and that a Jedi crawling across the floor is not the most dignified thing. It took a moment to remember how to get on his legs and the first few steps were shaky, wobbly, and he almost fell down twice. The second the door swooshed open, he gripped the doorway, helping his legs stabilize. Well. This was a sign of a lot of training in Obi-Wan's future.

In the hall, he didn't see any clones, thank the Force. He took several more shakey steps each growing more stable than the last. By the time he reached the mess hall, Obi-Wan had found his stride again.

The mess was empty, strangely enough. Maybe Cody was running a practice drill or something. Whatever the reason, Obi-Wan found himself grateful again. A nice, quiet cup of tea sounded like just the thing he needed. That had been the worst part of being a dog: no tea for the Jedi. Because according to Bacta, "Tea was not for animals." And unfortunately, that had been a rule heavily enforced.

"_Well now," _Obi-Wan smiled to himself, "_I am going to have a full pot and no one can stop me."_

* * *

Cody was not sure what to think when his morning started with a frantic search for a dog. Again. It had happened before. That puppy had made a bad habit of playing hide and seek. So Cody ordered the normal teams to check the normal places and expected a report back in thirty minutes at the most.

And then an hour passed.

Cody was starting to panic. The squads had increased to half the battalion with the numbers rising and now a full blow search of the ship was launched. Clones were armed with toys, rags, treats, and their pleading voices promising belly rubs and playtime. Bacta marched around threatening the hiding creature with check-ups (which wouldn't have convinced anyone but no one said anything) and Tile was now on the intercom asking for the dog to come out in his sweetest voice with promises of a new dog blanket and treats. If felt like a full-on invasion of the ship with men popping in and out of the various quarters and storage rooms, waving their chosen 'weapon' and calling for the dog, before calling "Clear!" over the radio.

And nothing happened.

At hour three Cody was in full-blown panicking Commander mode and was _this_ close to calling General Skywalker for back-up. Or at least, he had been, until he did a shortcut through the mess hall to get to the bridge.

* * *

Obi-Wan had begun preparing his second kettle of tea when Waxer first dashed through the mess hall, calling for him. Obi-Wan smiled at the squeaky toy in his hand and was prepared for the shock on the clone's face.

Instead, he was surprised when Waxer just nodded politely in his direction before hurrying back into the hall, informing Boil the dog was not in the mess.

Obi-Wan stood there for a moment before chuckling to himself. This was going to be fun.

The next clones to dash through were some of the new shinies, which Obi-Wan identified as Trigger and Soft Shot. They were a little more polite, stopping to salute the "visiting Jedi" then politely asking if he had seen a dog run through the mess.

"I'm afraid not-" the two clones dashed off before he could finish.

"-But I do know that I just turned back into my normal self, sorry to startle you. I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi." The Jedi smiled to himself, returning to his tea, which wasn't quite ready, but close.

This continued for the next few hours, with Obi-Wan sitting in the back of the mess hall, sipping his tea and eating a few sweets as he watched his men look frantically for a fluffy dog they were not going to find.

It was Cody, who finally took notice; no surprise there. The commander was ever the observant one. He stumbled into the mess, spotted his General and hurried over, taking hurried attention. "Sorry to interrupt your meal, General but have you seen the General-" Cody's voice cut off as it suddenly clicked in his mind.

Obi-Wan poured another cup of tea and motioned to the seat next to him. "Care to join me? It's been rather fun to watch you all scatter without another thought."

"...General, you're a cruel man."

"Think of this as a lesson in using all of your senses and your mind."

"General Kenobi…"

"Oh come, Cody. Another thirty minutes won't hurt anyone. Sit down and relax. You will not have another chance for some peace and quiet for some time."

Cody found no argument to that and sat down, accepting the tea and tart with no protest. And thus, the Commander and General enjoyed a pleasant, quiet, cup of tea while the rest of their battalion rushed around the ship, looking for a dog that was now human.

* * *

Most of the men were quite happy to see their General back to his normal, two-legged self. There were a few exceptions, the main two being Waxer and Tile. Waxer because… well, he's Waxer. And Tile because he liked having a dog. Of course, he and Obi-Wan hit it off almost immediately, with Tile gifting Obi-Wan one of his scarves at the end of the conversation.

As for Obi-Wan himself, he was quite happy to have his wits about him and his own voice back. Unfortunately…

"Sit down, Kenobi!"

"I'm fine, Bacta. I don't need-"

"No excuses! I'm performing a check-up on you this instant now sit down!"

"Bacta, I'm not a dog, there is no need to yell-"

Cody interjected helpfully, "Actually, this is how he normally is, General."

Obi-Wan did not look too happy at that comment and attempted to reassure the medic that he had no need for a checkup.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi, I swear on the Force, you are having a check-up this instant or my name isn't Bacta." Bacta brandished a sedative, "And I will use any means necessary to get you into the med bay. Even if I have to get a court-martial!"

The general eyed the sedative uneasily, paling slightly, and Cody could see him trying to work out if he could flee quick enough without getting a needle in his neck. There was a beat of silence, then the commander saw that Obi-Wan came to a decision; it wasn't worth the risk.

Because unlike General Skywalker, Obi-Wan made good decisions. Most of the time.

* * *

**To anyone who thinks we're done: WE ARE NOT. One more chapter to go! Hooray!**

**So as to why the Force decided: "Hey, I know! Let's turn Obi-Wan Kenobi into a puppy randomly for no reason whatsoever and then change him back on a random day!" ... This idea was a joke to my Padawan and I and there is literally no reason we could come up with as to why the heck the Force thought this was a good idea.**

**Does anyone have one? Because I got nothing. I just write the dang thing because of fluff and angst. So this will be updated again for the final time before January ends so... see you all there!**

**May the Force be With You!**


	14. What Makes a General

**Well... this is the end. The last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this short (but fun) little fic. If you liked it, maybe go check out the companion story, "Commander Pillow" or drop a review. Otherwise, please enjoy the end.**

* * *

One year later, General Kenobi made his rounds, his heart heavy.

The battle was over. The wounded were being tended to, the fallen were being gathered, and the survivors were being comforted by other survivors.

The planet had been harsh. Obi-Wan had a feeling he'd be sending a request for more troops within the next week. Too many had fallen. Too many… It felt like everyone had lost someone. A batchmate, a squad member, Force, Obi-Wan had lost contact with full squads over the course of the past two weeks.

As such, practically every clone he came across received condolences. He only wished he could do more than just give empty words. Like end this kriffing war.

His thoughts were drawn to Light and Checkered Squad who were standing off to the side of the rest of the men. Obi-Wan approached doing a mental check of who was there.

Trigger's mohawk made him easy to see among the group. His armor had a few orange highlights with a target painted on his right shoulder plate. He was clutching a smaller than usual blaster with his hands. His familiar sniper rifle was thrown over his back and surprisingly enough a datapad hung at his side. Both blaster and datapad were Soft Shot's.

Trigger had lost his other half almost nine months previously.

Click sat on the ground next to Trigger. His brown hair was hanging down in his eyes, but he didn't seem to care. Eyes were fixed downward at his hands and the helmet in them. Rift had died six months ago leaving only his helmet. Click had patched it up and added some modifications. Hands shaking, he shoved it back on then pushed himself to his feet.

Zee was nowhere in sight.

Obi-Wan moved to go comfort them but a sharp order from Buzzer to, "Stop struggling you kriffing idiot," drew his gaze.

Tile's long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail made him stick out. His right shoulder plate had the now-familiar checkered pattern that all of his batchmates had painted on. A few orange highlights decorated the rest of him. The pattern for a marshal's badge had been painted on his left forearm, which was clutching another forearm with the same picture.

_Dodge._ His helmet was removed revealing the brown arrow tattoos that decorated the bald head. Three brown arrows, two behind his ears, one down the center of his head. Lying loosely in his hand was an unfamiliar knife, which Obi-Wan recognized as being locally made. If Obi-Wan only focused on the clone's head, he could almost convince himself the clone was alright. The blood-stained bandages that were turning more and more red around his stomach said otherwise.

Buzzer was bent over Dodge, giving a shot to ease the pain. The medic symbol blazed in orange and red on his back, accompanied by the same special marks that Tile had. His helmet also had four orange parallel lines streaking down the left side over his visor. The shot finished, Buzzer took Dodge's other arm and clutched it for dear life.

A blur and cry from the side drew Obi-Wan's gaze to the last member of Checkered squad, who came to a grinding stop in front of Dodge. His red hair had grown long on one side, with the other half kept short enough to shave in the word "Cliff" above his ear. His armor reflected his team members with the symbol of the Blue squad on the other shoulder. Cliff dropped to his knees and gripped Dodge's right knee with his hands. He had a bloodied bandage wrapped around his right leg, but he didn't seem to care about keeping it tight.

Obi-Wan found himself next to Cliff. Dodge's bleary gaze found his, a smile tugging at his lips. "Hey… General."

Around them, Obi-Wan could feel the mourning brothers of Light and Checkered squad gather closer to their dying brother.

"Dodge," Obi-Wan replied as gently as he could. "You did good, _vod_."

Dodge struggled to breathe, coughing up blood. "Thanks…" He burst into a coughing fit, hands shaking. He fought for the next words. "General… will I… see… Marsh again?"

Obi-Wan hesitated for a moment, feeling the eyes of all of the clones on him. As a Jedi, he knew all things returned to the Force when they died. But what that looked like was a mystery in itself. Did they all form the Force? Or remain separate? Was it a combination of those? Were only Jedi able to retain themselves? Obi-Wan had no such answers.

Which is why he was a little confused when the words seemed to tumble out of his mouth with a will of their own. "Yes, Dodge. You will see all of your brothers again. Not just Marsh."

Dodge seemed to relax. He laid his head back against the rock he had been propped against and closed his eyes. A few ragged breaths later and his lungs fell still followed by his heart. Obi-Wan felt the Force retreat from the still body and bowed his head in respect. _May the Force be with you. All of you._

* * *

Cody was a little confused when he received a notification from Coruscant that quote, _"the requested companion of the 212th has been approved for deployment."_

He was more confused when his General did not seem surprised by it at all. If anything, he seemed very happy about it. In fact, General Kenobi immediately requested that the "companion" be sent to the company's current position (which was quite a distance from Coruscant). Then said General locked himself in his room.

Cody's confusion now tripled, the Commander decided it would be best to just wait for his General to explain what the kriff was going on.

As usual.

Force, why did Jedi have to always be like this?

* * *

Cody stared down at the General's surprise.

"Well?" Obi-Wan asked. He sounded on edge like he was afraid that he had made a mistake.

Cody didn't know what to say. On the one hand, it was a very cute dog. On the other hand, _it was a very cute dog._

Hadn't they gotten rid of their dog issues?

Obi-Wan noticed the pause and quickly explained, "He's trained for combat and rescue. I do not expect to take it on all missions, but you must admit he will be useful when trying to find missing clones… or generals."

Cody had to admit, he felt some appeal to that. Losing his General was an occurrence that happened far too often in his opinion. "Sir, do I want to ask where and when you got this idea?"

"Probably not," Obi-Wan admitted. "I tried to find one that was similarly colored to what I looked like during those… interesting days."

"Well the pattern is certainly different, but I think you got the right colors." Cody examined the brown, tan, and light red hues that covered the dog. "And it looks older."

"A small puppy just wasn't ideal for most situations," Obi-Wan explained. "And it is easier to have the dog grow into habits. He's trained for combat, including that fun reverse fetch trick that Waxer and Boil invented."

"Mmm…" Cody rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I assume he will have a handler?"

"I was thinking Tile would be a good choice," Obi-Wan allowed a smile.

"Of course you do."

"Do you object?"

"...No," Cody sighed. "If anything it is the only option because Tile would kidnap the dog if he wasn't."

"My thoughts exactly," Obi-Wan looked over at his commander. "So… can we keep him?"

Cody resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Sir, you outrank me."

"Yes, but I want your approval before anything else."

The clone looked down at the dog.

Said dog looked up, blue-green eyes pleading with the clone.

Cody groaned. "I don't think I can say 'no'. So I suppose my only question is what's its name?"

Obi-Wan grinned. It was that look that reminded Cody that this man was the master of General Skywalker. "General Canine."

The dog perked up at the title, letting out a small bark.

"Sir. _Why_." Cody's tone was more resigned than questioning but nonetheless… _why_? Just why?

Obi-Wan shrugged. "No reason to let a perfectly good name go to waste."

General Canine barked again, wagging his tail. Obi-Wan clicked his tongue twice. The dog got to his feet and began to trail behind. "Come along, Commander. Let's introduce the troops to the latest addition to the 212th."

Cody sighed in defeat, grabbed his helmet, then followed the two generals out into the halls. This was going to be an experience.

* * *

To say the 212th loved General Canine would be an understatement. The troops _adored_ the dog.

Tile wouldn't let go of the creature for the first hour. No one had the heart to tear the thing away, so a line to pet the dog formed. This line stretched out the door and down the hall all the way to mess. Those who started in the mess hall grabbed a little treat, which they gave the dog.

The following weeks consisted of troops drawing for turns to brush up on the dog's training (aka playtime), walk the thing around the ship, and feed it. The drawings happened on a daily basis with the tickets being "bought" from Tile through various methods (although most troopers used candy).

As for General Canine, he was very well behaved… mostly. He did beg at the table, which Bacta would lecture anyone caught feeding him. But other than that, he was well trained. Whenever Tile put on General Canine's battle vest (made of a similar armor to the clones) the dog snapped into "military mode". He would not move unless told to, remain silent unless danger was sensed (then he would growl), and no amount of treats would distract him from the job at hand.

And to be frank, the dog was quite terrifying when he wanted to be. Although the droids were metal, General Canine would bite and tear the smaller ones apart (with a little help). He was often involved in interrogation sessions with non-droid prisoners. It was funny to watch (on camera) General Kenobi play the role of "Good Cop" while General Canine played "Bad Cop". And some days Tile would participate. Those days were especially terrifying (Bad Cop Tile was a sight no clone ever wished to see).

Over the course of the war, General Canine was involved in a few battles, several search and rescue missions (most of them the target being General Kenobi), and too many therapy sessions to count. The dog was a welcome addition to the 212th and loyal as any dog could be to the men of the battalion.

And then the order came.

_Execute Order 66._

* * *

Boil ignored the buzzing words in the back of his head. "Good soldiers" may follow orders but since when had he ever cared about being a "good soldier"? He cared about his brothers more than this war. So kriff his orders and kriff the new "Emperor". Both could go to the deepest, darkest part of a Sarlacc pit.

There was nothing he could do for General Kenobi. Cody had already carried out that particular order. A sharp pain filled his chest but he swallowed it down. There would be time to mourn later.

For now, Boil had to get the kriff out of there. Of course, that was easier said than done.

The haze that had fallen over his brothers had helped. It was easy to avoid everyone. But the main problem was getting a ship. Stealing wasn't a big deal but it would definitely attract some attention. But that wasn't the hardest part.

Boil was loathed to leave anyone behind but… it was impossible to help everyone. He had to pick one. If Waxer had been there, then the choice would have been easy. But for the first time in his life, Boil thanked the Force that his dead brother wasn't there. Cody was too important to go unnoticed. Same with Wooley. If he could find Trapper then maybe-

A dog barked.

Boil froze in place, turning slowly. General Canine was sitting in the door of the supply tent Boil had been rummaging through. Boil motioned for him to be quiet before beckoning him closer. Maybe he could use the dog as a distraction.

To his surprise, General Canine did not listen. Instead, he whimpered softly then turned away. Boil recognized the sound as one of the dog's "signals" for help. He threw the backpack on his back and carefully made his way through the camp, keeping out of sight of the robotic-like clones.

General Canine was sitting outside of a barrack tent. He whimpered again, entering the tent. Boil hesitated before following him inside. He then found his choice made for him.

Tile was sitting on a cot, hands shaking. Unshed tears shone in his eyes and his voice was a trembling whisper of "_good soldiers follow orders"_ over and over again. At his feet, his knitting needles laid broken in pieces and the yarn was torn in shreds. General Canine put a paw on the clone's leg and whined, but received no answer.

Boil carefully approached, eyes searching for anyone else. The tent was empty, but wouldn't be for much longer. He put one hand under Tile's arm and gently hoisted him to his feet. "Come on, kid. We gotta move."

Tile shook his head, mumbling that cursed line again. Boil resisted the urge to scream. "General, lead us to the ships. And keep quiet."

The dog straightened up and Boil swore the thing nodded. General Canine trotted out of the tent with Boil dragging Tile close behind. It was tense and Boil wished that Tile would just _shut up_ but there wasn't much he could do.

The ships were clear except for a few mechanics. Boil thought he saw Cliff, but the clone disappeared before he could do anything. The guilt was shoved aside quickly. _Get out, then break down._

General Canine growled a warning. Boil shoved Tile behind some crates just in time. The patrol passed with no incident, thank the Force. Boil made a few signs at General Canine then pointed to the closest ship. The dog tensed up, ready to move at the signal. Boil checked around and found no one in the immediate vicinity. "Go play, General."

The dog took off and tackled the guard to the ground with licks and barks. The clone mechanic yelped in surprise and several other mechanics went to see what the problem was. Boil counted to ten before running/dragging Tile in the opposite direction to the furthest transport. It was definitely too big for a stealthy escape but if Boil moved quick enough, he'd be gone without anyone being able to identify him. Or at least quick enough to jump to hyperspace.

He managed to drag Tile up the ramp without anyone noticing. The ship's cargo bay was empty, thank the Force. Boil laid Tile down in the corner, out of sight of anyone who might do a quick peek for stowaways. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and rub his temples. The pounding words were getting harder to ignore.

Rex. He had to find Rex.

But first: the kriffing dog.

Boil pushed himself up and backed down the ramp, making sure to stay low and out of sight.

General Canine was in a bad spot. Something about this new attitude or whatever the heck was going on with the clones must have affected their memories or something because Boil wasn't sure what to expect but this was not it. The dog was currently being cornered by the men, blasters pointed to kill. Looked like one already did some harm because General Canine was limping and whimpering pretty loudly.

Without really thinking about it, Boil raised his blaster rifle, peered through his scope and fired.

Good news: he had it on stun. Bad news: There were five of them and one of him. More good news: the other Clone's reaction times were down. By a lot. So, by the time they turned to see who was knocking them down, there were only two left. Boil took another shot and missed.

The com in his helmet crackled to life as a familiar yet empty voice said, "_Sir, we've gotta-UGH!"_

The clone dropped with another shot from Boil leaving one left. Well, this one must be smarter than the others because he had run for cover when the shooting started. Boil kept an eye out, letting out a sharp whistle for General Canine to come.

The dog limped a few steps before falling on his stomach with a whimper.

_**Kriff.**_

"_CC-2224, we've got a rogue clone in transport 623. How should I proceed?"_

_**Kriff!**_

"_Eliminate him on sight."_

_**KRIFFING- **_

Boil whistled again. General Canine crawled on his stomach but again stopped and whimpered in pain. The clone groaned, slinging his gun over his back. No way was he letting down another General today. He took a deep breath then ran out into the open. Some part of his brain registered blaster fire, but he chose to ignore it, focusing on his goal.

Thankfully, the dog was small enough to pick up with little trouble. And thankfully, his brother had somehow become a terrible shot. Boil sprinted back to the ship and slammed his hand against the controls for the door.

His com flared to life again. "_The deserter is trying to take-off, CC-2224."_

"_All troops move to intercept."_

Boil cursed. Next time he saw Cody he was going to punch him in the face. He ran to the cockpit (which was thankfully empty) and flicked the switches to take-off. He found himself off the ground just as the first clones began to arrive. Boil ignored them, shooting into the sky, into space and jamming in the first coordinates that popped into his head.

As soon as he was in hyperspace, Boil allowed himself to finally yank off his helmet, chuck it against the ground, and scream. He pressed his hands against his head, the headache that had been building now in full effect as those kriffing words pounded into his brain over and over and over again. He screamed and screamed until his throat felt shredded into raw flesh. Then he cried.

Down in the cargo bay, Tile was laying on his side. His hands were shaking so badly and he couldn't stop the words tumbling out of his mouth. "_Good soldiers follow orders…"_ Yet his body wouldn't do what his voice said. It was like something had shut him down and he was unable to move, let alone follow orders.

The dog crawled over, his blaster wound cauterized. Painful, but not deadly. General Canine cuddled up next to his handler and whimpered. Tile's arms somehow pulled the dog into a hug and the words came to a halting stop. Tears began to stream down the clone's face, dripping onto the floor. Tile's shaking voice spoke again. This time, it was only two words. "_Good boy."_

A General is many things in the war. A leader, a warrior, an inspiration. And when it comes down to the line, a General is someone who knows when their men are in trouble… and know how to get them out of it. Apparently, this includes when your General is a dog.

* * *

It took a while to find Rex. Mandalore had made sure of that. But Boil had managed. The chips were removed and suddenly it was just Boil, Tile, and a dog. There weren't a lot of places they could go. The Empire had taken over. Clones were considered to be the oppressors. So where do you go?

Well, Boil wasn't sure where he should go. But he knew where he wanted to go. Tile refused to leave him and with Tile followed General Kanine. And if Boil was honest with himself, he was okay with that.

"_Nerra!"_

He had a feeling that Numa was delighted to meet them both.

* * *

**Cue credit music and the camera rolling away from that happy scene. **

**I hope you all enjoyed and May the Force Be With You!**

**...**

**...**

**Also, here's a bonus thing that is just for fun because WHY THE KRIFF NOT?**

* * *

***A random scene that happens at some point in the afterlife after Return of the Jedi:***

Cody comes running into a giant room with all of the 212th and 501st gathered inside. He holds up his hands for silence and waits until he gets it before speaking. "Alright! So the baby has been born. It's a boy."

Several clones whooped out in excitement.

Cody glared at them, then continued. "He's healthy and General Kenobi says he's strong in the Force."

Another shout for joy and another Commander glare-of-doom. "Now, General Skywalker is about to come in here and tell you all this but I thought you all deserved a warning. They named the baby after General Kenobi…" Cody hesitated. "Kind of."

Someone (probably Waxer) yelled, "What do you mean?"

Cody tried to keep a straight face. "The baby's name is Ben."

There was silence for a moment. Then the entire population of clones dropped to the floor screaming with laughter.

Seconds later, General Skywalker comes in this huge smile on his face. "Everyone, I have a grandson! He-" he cuts off and looks around in confusion. He walks up to Cody, confused. "What's going on here, Commander?"

"I told them the news, sir."

"Why are they laughing?"

"I told them his name."

"... what's wrong with 'Ben'?"

Cody looked around the room at the dying clones. "It's best not to know, sir."

"...Does Obi-Wan know?"

"No, sir. If he did, I doubt he would have used that nickname."

Anakin frowned. "Oh."

* * *

***During The Force Awakens***

"So…" Waxer looked up from his hand of Sabacc cards. "I've been thinking about little Ben."

Cody frowned. "What about him?"

Boil groaned, "Ignore him. It's not important."

"Well," Waxer pushed on, ignoring the elbow in his side, "I was thinking that two Ben's are confusing. And seeing how this Ben is turning out… worse than our General."

"He slaughtered a Jedi school," Bacta replied, his voice flat.

"Exactly!" Waxer explained, "I was thinking he deserved another name."

Cody raised an eyebrow, "Like…?"

"Uh…"

Tile piped up, "Bendi!"

Everyone stared at the clone. Cody spoke for everyone when he finally found his voice, "I'm sorry, _what_?"

"Bendi. Bacta's Eternal Nightmare, _DANG IT!_"

Everyone flinched at the last two words, which were practically shouted at the top of his lungs.

Bacta growled, "He's more of the original Ben's nightmare then mine."

"Well then," Tile frowned, "Ben's Eternal Nightmare, _DANG IT!"_

Waxer cleaned out an ear. "Must you yell it every time?"

"No. But I heard that he just activated Starkiller base."

"_**DANG IT."**_ Every clone present groaned, moaned, and shouted at basically the same time.

"See?"

* * *

***after the ninth movie: SPOILER ALERT***

"Hey, Bendi."

"Hi, Bendi!"

"Bendi, what's up?"

"I hear you're sparring with your grandfather later today, Bendi. You nervous?"

"I still don't think you deserve being up here, Bendi."

Ben looked around confused at the hundreds of thousands of identical men in armor painted in all the colors of the rainbow who are all calling him a name he _never _heard until now.

Uncle Luke put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry. They've been calling you that since before I got here."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

In a nearby corner, Obi-Wan and Cody stood watching the chaos. Obi-Wan shook his head, obviously confused. "Commander, please. What does Bendi, or Ben for that matter, mean to you and your brothers?"

"Just nicknames, sir."

"Nicknames that still send everyone to the ground in fits of giggles."

Cody shook his head, "Some things are best left unknown."

***And thus, "Ben" was the best clone-kept-secret that was never revealed to anyone who was not a clone.***


End file.
